Return of the Jinzouningen
by JC Fabulous
Summary: Seven years after Mirai Trunks returned from the past, he encounters new friends while at the same time an evil danger looms over the horizion. An enemy he thought he had once destroyed are starting to make a comeback, with a vengence. R&R Please :)
1. Prologue

DRAGON BALL- Future Shock  
Written By: MiraiNoTrunksSS3aol.com

A New Era and New Heroes: Return of the Jinzouningen  
  
PROLOUGE  
  
A lone figure sits in his room at a desk, writing in his, rather thick, journal as the moonlight shimmered through the curtains on his windows. He seemed to pause for a short while, trying to think of something else to add as he once again put his pen to the pages and started scribbling.  
---  
"Well it's been seven years since the destruction of the Jinzouningen and peace has finally returned to the Earth. However over Ninety percent of the world's population had been exterminated like insects with no real measurable re-growth. Most of the surviving people are scattered across the Earth with only a few remaining cities and towns still in existence. The new fledgling governments are trying their best to restore what they once had, but it is far more difficult than anyone had ever expected.  
  
After seven years of relative peace, there are only a handful of operating hospitals around and even fewer schools. Crimes have been steadily making their way back into the forefront and the newly formed police forces and militaries try their best to keep what little order remains, but the thing is they are also sympathetic to those who commit many of the crimes. Most of them are not evil people, just desperate and they're doing what ever they can to provide for their families. Jobs are hard to come by and it's even harder to keep one once you get it. Luckily the Capsule Corporation is still the biggest company on planet and we will do everything we can to make things better. Okaa-san is coming up with plans to re-build schools and hospitals as we speak, and setting up new factories everywhere and providing jobs.  
  
Hopefully I can a make a contribution too...  
  
Trunks Briefs... New Year's Day, 790 AD. "


	2. Chapter 01

CHAPTER ONE  
  
In a hidden laboratory, deep within a secluded mountain range of the artic circle, a giant super computer created by a mad scientist continues to live on after its creator had died so long ago. Doctor Gero had not only created the androids to carry out his ambitions, but also a computer incase he should ever fail to live them out to the end. Twenty-three years after his death, his computer intends to carry out those ambitions as it was programmed to do; however in order to do so, it must change.  
  
Diagnostics of data history complete...  
  
Review data history...  
  
Objective of original mission: Terminate subject Son Goku and conquer the world.  
  
Original target: Son Goku Status: Deceased, medical records show subject died due to unknown heart disease.  
  
Units programmed to carry out original mission: Android units Number Seventeen, Android Number Eighteen, Android Number Nineteen and Android Number Twenty.  
  
Android unit Number Seventeen: Status: Deactivated and non-operational Cause of deactivation: Terminated by Saiya-jin named Trunks Elapsed time of termination: Seven years  
  
Android unit Number Eighteen: Status: Deactivated and non-operational Cause of deactivation: Terminated by Saiya-jin named Trunks Elapsed time of termination: Seven years  
  
Android unit Number Nineteen: Status: Deactivated and non-operational Cause of deactivation: Unknown Elapsed time of termination: Twenty-three years  
  
Android unit Number Twenty: "Doctor Gero" Status: Deactivated and non-operational Cause of deactivation: Unknown, possible termination by Number Seventeen and Number Eighteen. Elapsed time of termination: Twenty-three years  
  
Android unit Number Twenty-one: Code name "Cell" Objective: To absorb units Number Seventeen and Number Eighteen, and complete original mission. Status: Deactivated and non-operational Cause of deactivation: Terminated by Saiya-jin named Trunks Elapsed time of termination: Seven years  
  
Mission objective reprogram...  
  
Reprogramming complete...  
  
List new objective: Terminate subject Trunks and all other obstacles. Conquer the world.  
  
Subject: Saiya-jin, Trunks.  
  
Reinitializing targeting systems...  
  
Targeting complete...  
  
List remaining Android units: Android Number Thirteen Android Number Fourteen Android Number Fifteen. Android Number Sixteen.  
  
Downloading new mission objective to remaining android units...  
  
Download complete...  
  
Android units reprogrammed to carry out new objective: Android units Number Thirteen, Android Number Fourteen and Android Number Fifteen.  
  
Status of Remaining Android Units: Powered down and operational  
  
Note...  
  
Android unit Number Sixteen: Status: Deactivated and operational Cause of deactivation: Programming flaw discovered, deactivated by Doctor Gero. Note: Expendable.  
  
Initializing physical upgrade enhancements...  
  
Estimated time of upgrade completion... One year, nine days and twenty-two hours.  
---  
In North Pepper Town, a teenage girl with shoulder-length black hair, dressed in jeans with an old, tattered backpack and overcoat walked the dark streets of the city. She's been living here for years now, alone and cold. Her mother was killed by the Jinzouningen and she was left an orphan, with no one to take care of her and with no place to call home, this was where she lived. In the allies of North Pepper Town, fighting off gangs, looking for food, and pawning whatever she could steal could just to make to the next day. The rain has been pouring down for nearly five hours now and she was making her way to the local homeless shelter two blocks away. It was almost midnight now and the storm had no signs of letting off.  
  
She finally made it to the homeless shelter, a place where she spent many nights in to get away from the weather. Her hair was soaked and dripping with water she walked up to the front desk.  
  
"Oi, hello Taka-san."  
  
"Oh Pan, hi. I was wondering when you would be coming. It's raining pretty hard out there tonight." Taka was an old man who's been volunteering at the shelter for years now. He was short, fat and bald but very kind. "Oi Pan, when are you coming over to stay with us? You know the Mrs. and I would be more than happy to have to you live us instead of being on the streets. We worry about you."  
  
"Arigato, Taka-san, but I don't want to put you out."  
  
"It won't be any trouble at all Pan-chan."  
  
"I can't, I wouldn't feel right."  
  
"Well, if you ever change your mind, you know where to find us. Okay." He responded with a heavy sigh.  
  
"Hai."  
  
A few moments later she was lead to an open room with a single bed and a small drawer. The bed was placed with fresh sheets and linen.  
  
"Here you go Pan-chan, I'm sorry but this room is the best I can do."  
  
"No please this is more than enough Taka-san."  
  
"Here's a night gown and towel also, you'd probably feel better after a hot shower."  
  
"Hai, I think I will. Arigato."  
  
"Goodnight Pan-chan."  
  
"Goodnight Taka-san."  
  
She slipped off her wet clothes, went into the bathroom and stepped in the shower. Taka-san was right; she did feel a little better. The hot water was soothing, it ran over her body and she felt quite relaxed. As she finished her shower, she toweled herself off and slipped into her nightgown. Crawling into bed for the night she pulled out a locket she was wearing from underneath the collar of nightgown. It was a small, silver, oval shaped locket with a heart design etched in the surface. There were two pictures in it; one was a picture of a man she had never seen before; her father, and the other was a picture of her mother. She was a very strong and proud woman, never backing down from a fight; she was always there for her. Her mother had her when she was young and she could also remember her being very sad, especially when she would ask about her father. Her mother never really talked about him, except to say that he was very strong and that she left him when she found out that she was pregnant because he already had the weight of the world on his shoulders. She would always tell her that if anyone could defeat the Jinzouningen, it would be him. And tears flowed down Pan's face as she stared at the picture of her mother, and then finally turned out the light and cried herself to sleep.  
  
The next morning she woke up and found her clothes cleaned and folded on the nightstand next to her bed. After changing her clothes, she walked down to the cafeteria and had herself a light breakfast. After she was finished, she got her belongings and was preparing to leave.  
  
"Thank you Taka-san for washing my clothes last night."  
  
"It was no trouble Pan-chan, are you leaving already?"  
  
"Hai."  
  
(Sigh) "Well, just remember, if you ever change your mind, my door is always open if you want to stay with us."  
  
"Hai, arigato. Bye-bye Taka-san."  
  
"Bye-bye." [Poor kid, I hope nothing bad happens to her.]  
  
Later on that morning, Pan was walking down the street, with her coat folded up and stuffed in her backpack.  
  
[At least I had a warm breakfast this morning.] She thought to herself. [How am I ever going to find a job? I should have taken Taka-san's offer, what was I thinking? He probably could have helped me out with finding a job if I went home with him and his wife.]  
  
Her thinking was interrupted by the engine throttles of motorcycles roaring down the avenue ahead of her. It was the local gang that terrorized people in this particular part of town. It was about six of them, and Pan knew them very well; she had gotten into a couple of fights with them before. She always came out on top of course. They had even made her an offer to become apart of their gang. She resented the idea of terrorizing innocent people, after all the years with the Jinzouningen, how could anyone do the things that they did. All she wanted to was to get a good job and stand on her own two feet, she hated charities, which was probably the reason why she had always declined Taka-san's offer. Hopefully though they wouldn't notice her and she could make herself around them.  
  
"Oi, Pan!" came a shout from the gang. It was Guy, the leader, a little older than Pan, he was almost a two feet taller than she was and very heavily built with short black hair.  
  
[Damn! What does he want from me now?] "What is it now Guy?" she asked quite heatedly  
  
"Hey come on now, don't act like that. I just want to talk to you is all." He said with a big grin on his face  
  
"What?" she said as they pulled up just in front of her.  
  
"I was just wondering if you gave seconds thoughts about joining us? You know we can take over this entire city if you came with us."  
  
"And why would I want to join a group of sad and pathetic losers like you? Going around beating up on people weaker than you. You make me sick, you're no better than the Androids were."  
  
"Watch your tongue Pan, don't you ever compare me with those monsters!"  
  
"Well then if you don't want to hear me compare you with them, I suggest that you all get out of here while you still can."  
  
Guy narrowed his eyes as his anger grew inside of him. "Lucky for you we have better things to do today than to sit around and chat with a little street-rat girl like you, come on guys ley's go." And with that said, they climbed back on their bikes and rode away.  
  
[Well that was a wonderful way to start off the morning.] She thought to herself.  
---  
However, in New Capitol City not far away, a young man with lavender colored hair is currently hard at work at putting the final touches on an old Gravity room that hasn't been used since before that Jinzouningen first appeared. Behind the house of the Capsule Corp. the newly improved Gravity room was almost complete, just a few more wires and it would be fully operational.  
  
"Oi, good morning Trunks."  
  
"Okaa-san! Good Morning."  
  
"Still working on that old thing are you?"  
  
"Hai, It should be finished in a little bit. Otou-san used to train in this a long time ago before I was born. It helped him get stronger and I want to get stronger to."  
  
"Trunks..." Bulma said quietly, "It's been seven years since the Jinzouningen were here, and you're already much stronger than your father was, even Gohan. Don't you think it's about time you start thinking about settling down?"  
  
Trunks lowered his eyes a little and turned his head.  
  
"Trunks, I didn't mean to say... It's just that I'm worried about you."  
  
"I know Okaa-san, but what if something else was to come along and threaten the Earth again? And what if they're stronger than the Jinzouningen were? There's no one else left, I'm the only one. What'll happen to the Earth if I can't protect it?"  
  
Bulma looked at her son and understood very well. Earth has been through a lot of trauma and danger through out her life. And whenever she thought that it would be the last one, another threat would come along and be even more dangerous than the previous one.  
  
"I understand, but just think about it okay."  
  
"Hai." Trunks replied with a small smile.  
  
There was a short silent pause between them that lasted for several minutes...  
  
"Well I'm off, I'll probably be back around lunch time."  
  
"Huh? Where are you going Okaa-san?" asked Trunks  
  
"North Pepper Town. I have a meeting with the city mayor to set up a new hospital there. It's been years since they've had a good one, and the one they have now is completely sub-standard, and that's putting it nicely. The doctors there try their best, but they just don't have the proper equipment or facilities for the care that their patients require... How about you? Are you planning on anything today, besides the obvious."  
  
"Not really, I'm just going to have to go to Big Mountain City a little later this morning." Replied Trunks  
  
"Big Mountain City? That's pretty far away, why do you need to go there?"  
  
"They have the last part I need to complete the Gravity room."  
  
"But we already have all the parts we need for it." Said Bulma  
  
"I know Okaa-san, it's just something I want to add on to it."  
  
"Oh?" said Bulma raising an eyebrow, "and what would that be?"  
  
"Uh, nothing special... Just something different that's all." Blushed Trunks  
  
"Hmm... Okay then, just don't get into any trouble."  
  
"I promise I won't." said Trunks  
  
"Well, I have to go now or I'll be late. I'll see you later for lunch okay."  
  
"Hai, have a good trip."  
  
"You too, oh before I forget could you stop over at Chi-chi's house when you go and see if she'd like to come over for dinner tonight? It's been a long time since we've gotten together."  
  
"Hai!" stated Trunks enthusiastically.  
  
"Good, it'll be nice to see her again. Bye Trunks." Said Bulma as she walked off to her air car that was parked just around the corner of the Capsule Corp. house.  
  
"Bye-bye have a nice trip Okaa-san." Said Trunks with a big smile. Bulma waved goodbye as the air car lifted into the sky and took off. 


	3. Chapter 02

CHAPTER TWO  
  
Pan was still walking up and down the streets of North Pepper Town, knocking on doors of stores, shops, restaurants and anyplace that could offer a possible place of employment. And every time she knocked and the doors opened, they were just slammed back in her face. As she was making her way down the main road in the town square, she noticed someone being pushed out of the local diner just down the street. A young boy about the same age as her, it was Mikal. Another orphan that she knew very well, Guy was his older brother, but Mikal didn't want to have anything to do with him since he started his gang and began terrorizing people.  
  
"Oi, Mikal!" shouted Pan  
  
"Oi!!" Mikal replied  
  
"Morning Mikal, why did that man push you out of the diner?" she asked  
  
"I was trying to find some work, but apparently no one wants to hire a homeless boy. Some stupid matter about not being able to trust someone who came off the streets or something."  
  
"I know what you mean, I can't find one either."  
  
"Well it looks like we're in the same boat then huh?"  
  
"Hai, I saw your brother earlier today." She said  
  
A scowl washed over Mikal's brow. "Really, what did he want this time?"  
  
"The same old thing..."  
  
"Hmph, he should just go straight to hell. I can't believe he started a gang like that and started bullying people around after what happened to us." Mikal detested.  
  
"Where did you stay last night? It was raining pretty hard." Pan asked, trying to get his mind off of his brother  
  
"Over at the half way house, at 15th Ave. and 8th Street, they're pretty nice there. I can't bring it upon myself to stay there for to long though. I don't like hand outs."  
  
"Me either, Taka-san at the homeless shelter offered me to stay at his house with him and his wife. I mean they're really nice but I don't know... I just can't." Said Pan with some obvious sadness in her voice.  
  
"Oi Pan, look over there. Isn't that Bulma Briefs of the Capsule Corp.?"  
  
Pan looked over her shoulder and saw a middle-aged woman with blue hair walking down the steps of city hall. She was very well dressed with some very expensive looking jewelry.  
  
"I'm not sure, I think so. I've never seen her in real life just in pictures." Pan responded  
  
"Man, I wonder what it's like to be the richest person in the world. Never having to worry about going hungry, clothes or a roof over your head. It must be very nice." Said Mikal "I wish I was rich so I wouldn't have to worry about those things."  
  
"Hai, me too. But that's not for people like us. We're meant to be poor and live on the streets." Said Pan "Come on Mikal let's go, maybe we'll have better luck if we look for some work together."  
  
Just then as they turned around and began walking in the opposite direction, they heard the loud roars of motorcycle engines and they knew instantly what was happening. Whipping around simultaneously, they saw Guy and his gang surrounding Bulma as she got to her air car.  
  
"Oh no, Guy what are you doing!" shouted Mikal however his voice couldn't be heard over the sounds of the engines.  
  
"Come on honey hand it over, I know you can afford it. You're like super rich and everything right?" said Guy smiling from ear to ear with an evil grin.  
  
"And why should I be frightened of some low life thugs like you anyway! You don't scare me, I've been through a lot worse than you!" Bulma fired back, not willing to back down from her assailants.  
  
"Cause if you don't I'll just have to make you." And pulled out a gun and pointed it at her face. Bulma gasped as she was now staring down the barrel of a 45-caliber pistol. However her shock turned into surprise as a black backpack knocked the handgun out of his hand into the middle of the street. They all turned their heads to see Pan and Mikal standing behind them.  
  
"So, looks like little brother and the homeless girl came to the rescue." Guy chuckled  
  
"Leave her alone Guy!" shouted Mikal  
  
"Really why should I? I'm robbing from the rich and giving it to the poor, namely me! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" He bellowed  
  
"She didn't do anything to you. She's earned her success now leave her alone!" Shouted Pan.  
  
"Or what?" said Guy  
  
"Or we'll have to stop you." Mikal replied with obvious disgust and launched himself with remarkable speed at his older brother and landed his right fist square in his face knocking back about twenty feet.  
  
While at the same time Pan launched several punches of her own on the other members of his gang. During her little struggle Pan glanced over at Mikal to see how he was doing, Mikal was now face to face with his brother. Guy was much bigger than Mikal and a lot stronger, but Mikal speed and agility on his side.  
  
Guy landed a powerful uppercut in Mikal's stomach doubling him over and kicked him in the face propelling him backwards and then crashing into a parked car on the corner. As Guy ran over to where his little brother, Mikal kicked him under the chin with both his feet, and with great speed, flipped into the air and landed three consecutive punches in the face and ducked several fists thrown by Guy and swept his feet right out from underneath him.  
  
Pan on the other hand was dodging a couple of bats and some chains being thrown her way by the other members of the gang. They were not a challenge of course, she dodged them with ease and even laughed as they tried their hardest to hit her. She thought it amusing that they thought they could beat her like this. Catching one of the bats with her left hand, she punched one of them her right square in the chest knocking him into the other four members sending them straight into the brick wall behind them. She dusted off her hands and turned around to see Mikal on the receiving end of a giant fist.  
  
Mikal landed on his back about ten feet back from where he was standing, the pain shot down his spine and opened to eyes to see Guy standing over him with a giant foot raised in the air preparing to land it straight into his face. Just then, another foot came from the sky crashing into the chest of gang leader sending him flying across the street to where the other members of his gang were, just as they were regaining their consciousness.  
  
Guy held to his chest in pain, it felt like it was caved in, which it probable was. He was guessing that there had to be at least a few broken bones. "You little bi..."  
  
"Now, now, now... You should learn to watch your language Guy." Pan snickered  
  
As he looked up he saw Pan standing across the street with her arms crossed and smiling, and Mikal getting to feet and ready to fight again. Not a good sign for someone in his condition. And Bulma not far away on their left looking surprised by the events that just went down, apparently with no signs of harm. Somehow she had managed to stay out of the way of the entire fight.  
  
"Looks like you won this one, but don't count winning the next one Pan!" shouted Guy with rage  
  
"You say that every time, aren't you tired of losing?" she chuckled  
  
"Come on people, let's get of here." He ordered. Guy along with the rest of his gang moaned and groaned as they made their ways to their bikes and rode off without even a glance back.  
  
"Mikal are you okay?" Pan asked  
  
"I've been better." He answered rubbing the bruises on his face.  
  
"Wow, you guys are pretty good!" came a woman's voice from behind the two. They looked over and saw Bulma with her hands on her hips and her head cocked to the right with a huge smile on her face.  
  
"Miss, are you okay? They didn't hurt you did they?" asked Pan with some obvious concern that Guy and his peons might have harmed her.  
  
"Oh, of course I am. I've been through much worse then those guys!" she smiled "The question is are you two okay, you took quiet a few punches."  
  
"Oh we're fine, we've taken worse too." Pan answered  
  
"Hai." coughed Mikal and clutched his ribs as he did so.  
  
"Maybe you should let me take a quick look at that real quick." Said Bulma "You need some medical attention, it looks like that gang member might have fractured a few of your ribs."  
  
"He's my brother." Grimaced Mikal  
  
"You're brother!" stated Bulma with clear shocked in her expression  
  
"Hai, he started that gang of his after our parents were killed by the Jinzouningen."  
  
"Is he your brother too?" Bulma asked Pan  
  
"Hm? Oh no he's not my brother, I don't have any brothers or sisters. In fact, neither one of us have any family left." She replied  
  
"Oh... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..."  
  
"That's okay, we're both used to it. We've been on our own for a long time now."  
  
"Well it looks like your friend here is going to need to get his ribs bandaged up. And I'm afraid that the hospital here won't be able to accommodate him." Bulma sighed "Let me take you to my house where I can give you the proper care you need."  
  
"Oh no I can't let you..." Mikal started to protest  
  
"No buts, you're going to let me help you whether you like it or not and that's final." She declared. The firmness of her statement took both of them by surprise and agreed to it by the sheer notion that they didn't know what she would do if they continued to say no. "By the way what were you two doing out here at city hall if you don't mind me asking?"  
  
"Oh, well, we were trying to find some jobs but no one wants to hire a couple of homeless kids from off the street. It's been real hard for us, no one wants to give us a chance." Frowned Pan, and the two of them looked down at their feet as the sadness started to build up in them. 'Hard' was an understatement if anything.  
  
"Hmm, really?" asked Bulma  
  
"Hai." Answered the two on them in unison  
  
"Well I am!"  
  
"Nani!" answered the two of them again in unison  
  
"If you two are looking for a job, well then I'll give you one!" Bulma replied with a big grin.  
  
"Really?" asked Pan her eyes beaming wide with a small sign of hope.  
  
"Of course I will. And don't worry; you don't have to think of it as charity or anything. On the contrary, I'm giving you two a chance to start over again and to give something back to the community."  
  
"But we don't have any..." Mikal started to say.  
  
"Hush, I told you don't worry about it, and don't worry about having a place to stay. I have more than enough room at my house for you to live in. Hmm... And while you're there I'll be teaching you everything you need to know in order to work."  
  
"Arigato!!" shouted Pan  
  
"Hai, arigato!!" shouted Mikal and then clutched his ribs again  
  
"HA-HA-HA! Let's go so I can take a look at those robs of yours." Said Bulma  
  
"Un, hai." Mikal grinned  
  
"Oh by the way my name is Bulma."  
  
"Hai we know, and my name is Pan. And this is my friend Mikal."  
  
"Well Pan, Mikal, it's nice to meet you." Stated Bulma  
  
"Hai." Pan replied. Something about Pan's facial expression caught Bulma's eye; it seemed familiar somehow. And Pan noticed it.  
  
"Uh, did I do something wrong?" Pan asked  
  
"Huh, oh no. I'm sorry, but it's just that... Have I seen you somewhere before? You look familiar." Bulma questioned  
  
"I don't think so, I've never seen you before today Miss Bulma." She answered  
  
"Please, just call me Bulma. All my friends call me that. Hmm, it must be the way you smile or something, but I could have sworn we've met before. Oh well, never mind that, let's get going shall we."  
  
"HAI!!" they hollered. Bulma and Pan lead Mikal to the air car and helped him in first and then the other two jumped in and they took off into the sky and zoomed across the horizon towards the Capsule Corp. house.  
  
[Hmm, there is something about Pan that's just so familiar, and I don't forget faces that easily so I know I've seen her some where before. I just have to take some time and think about it.] Bulma said to herself as she made their way back home.  
---  
Trunks was making his way over the forest tree tops, looking for a single little house in the middle of the woods where he's been many time before during his youth. The only other real home he's ever been to. Where Gohan grew up in, and then he spotted it and landed in the front yard.  
  
"Chi-chi-san!!" Trunks yelled out as his feet touched the ground  
  
"Huh?" came a voice from the within the house, "Oh Trunks-kun!" It was Chi- chi, she was looking much older now, and ever since Gohan died she just didn't care how she looked anymore. Trunks came by as often as he could to make sure that she was doing okay, he felt so much guilt about what happened to Gohan that he vowed that he would take care of his mother no matter what happened. Trunks used to stop by so much that Chi-chi even thought of him as a second son that she never had, and treated him as such. Trunks never minded, secretly he actually liked it, and as he ran up to her, she gave him a big hug.  
  
"Trunks-kun, how have you been? You grown since the last time I've seen you!" she exclaimed  
  
"Hai, I've been doing okay. I came to stop by to see how you were doing." He said  
  
"Oh I've been doing just fine. I've been much better lately; Otou-san and I were about to start breakfast. Why don't you join us, and I won't take no for an answer." Chi-chi demanded  
  
"Hai!" no arguments from Trunks, he'd been so busy this morning that he'd didn't have time to eat breakfast. Which was extremely rare. He'd spent about three or four hours that morning with the Son family, Chi-chi and her father the Ox-King that he didn't really want to leave. But he had to get going or else the part that he needed might be sold to someone else.  
  
"I'm sorry Chi-chi-san, but I have to get going on my way now to Big Mountain City and pick up the last part I need, or I might lose it to someone else."  
  
"Okay, I understand, just remember stop by again sometime soon alright?" Chi-chi said  
  
"Hai, Oh yeah that reminds me. Okaa-san wants me to invite you two to dinner tonight over at out house, it's been a long time since we've done that." Said Trunks  
  
"Hai, it has been a long time, okay we'll come." Chi-chi replied  
  
"Hai! I'll tell her you're coming!" exclaimed Trunks "Bye-bye!" Trunks yelled out as he took to the air and shout off towards Big Mountain City.  
  
"Bye!!" said both Chi-chi and Ox-King together  
  
"Trunks has grown up into a fine young man, don't you think Chi-chi?" asked Ox-King  
  
"Hai, he reminds me a lot of Gohan." And a feeling of emptiness washed over her, even though it has been many years since Gohan's death, she had never gotten over it. He was her pride and joy and he meant everything to Chi- chi. And now he was gone forever.  
  
"It's okay Chi-chi, it'll be okay." The Ox-king said, trying to coax his daughter  
  
"I know Otou-san, but it still hurts no matter how long it's been."  
  
"I know." He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and escorted her back into the house. 


	4. Chapter 03

CHAPTER THREE  
  
Big Mountain City, a city at the base at one of the most western mountain ranges on the Earth. In fact it was so far west that it was one of the very few cities that survived the attacks from the Jinzouningen. Trunks was flying in the sky towards it and finally decided to land just outside the city limits and walk the rest of the way. He didn't want to alarm anyone.  
  
[Hmm, let's see... Where is it, Big City Electronics Store? It has to be around here somewhere, on High Road Ave. and 39th Street.] Trunks thought to himself as he made his way though the crowds of pedestrians down the sidewalk. "Ah, there it is!" In big neon letters, there stood the place he was looking for and walked right in.  
  
At the counter was an old man working on something very delicate, on a couple of microchips, with some very precise tools as he was wearing some of biggest magnifying glasses Trunks had ever seen in his life. Tiny clouds of smoke were rising into the air as he approached the counter.  
  
"Um, excuse me." Said Trunks politely  
  
"Hai... How can I help you?" asked the old man without even looking up.  
  
"I was wondering if you could help me with something?"  
  
"Ohh, and what's that?" the old man asked. As he looked up Trunks took a step back as he saw just how big the magnifying glasses really were, it took up almost half of the man's face, and in the lens Trunks could nothing more than the pupils of his eyes. The old man blinked several times as he took them off and allowed his vision to return to normal and Trunks took a breath and sighed.  
  
"I was wondering if you could help me find a part I'm looking for?" Trunks asked  
  
"Oh, what would that be young man?"  
  
Trunks handed him a piece of paper with the part model and number with the specifications on it.  
  
"Hmm, this is a very rare part to find nowadays. In fact they were hard to find even back when they were still making them. No one really has a need for them now though you know, everyone has better things to worry about now." Said the old man  
  
"Hai, but I looked you guys up and according to my research you're the only ones who might actually still have it on stock." Said Trunks hoping that they would  
  
"Hmm, I think so... But let me take a look in the back and see if we got one for sure. It'll be a few minutes."  
  
"Hai!" said Trunks as the old man made his way towards the back stock room. Trunks could hear the old man rummaging amongst several things, and dropping a couple.  
  
"Oops, well that thing's not going to work anymore." The old man said to himself  
  
"I hope he doesn't break anything that I need." Trunks whispered under his breath  
  
"Ah, I found it!" The old man made his way back out to the front and placed it on the counter. "Here you go young man, still in the original box and unopened in fact. Brand new. To tell the truth I was surprised that we still had it."  
  
"Hai, arigato! How much?" Trunks asked enthusiastically  
  
"Well let's ring it up and see shall we." And he ran it across the scanner "Hmm, that'll be 40,000 zeni."  
  
"40,000 zeni! Well that was more than I was expecting, but I guess if I really want it I'd have to pay it." Trunks said to himself.  
  
"That's my guess." The old man replied  
  
"Here you go." Said Trunks and handed him a titanium level credit card.  
  
As the old man read the name on the card he was a little surprised by it, "Ano? Trunks Briefs... Are you the son of Bulma Briefs, president of the Capsule Corp.?"  
  
"Hai."  
  
"Hmm, why would you want on old piece of circuitry like this one, I'm sure that the Capsule Corp. could make parts better than this one?" He asked  
  
"Hai, but like you said, most people have more important things to worry about than to spend there time on things like the parts I need." Trunks answered  
  
"Hmm, I guess you're right, well let me just ring it through and..." Just then a loud burst came through the door as on old woman with blond hair toting two very huge machine guns in both hands demanding all the money in the register.  
  
"Come on you old man give me everything you have in the register! And you, you purple haired boy, give me everything you got in your pockets!" she demanded  
  
"Great not again..." the old man whispered  
  
"Again? What do you mean?" Trunks whispered back  
  
"She comes in every other day or so demanding money from the register. It's become like a weekly routine."  
  
"Hey stop whispering over there you two and give me all your money!!" she demanded again.  
  
"Hmm, well I'll stop her." Said Trunks  
  
"Huh, no wait! You don't understand!" the old man shouted  
  
"Don't worry I'll take care of it!"  
  
"But you don't understand!"  
  
"I said don't worry." Trunks said again and calmly made his way over to the woman. "Now look it doesn't have to end up this way, all you have to do is leave peacefully and no one is going to get hurt."  
  
"The only one that's going to get hurt around here is you if you don't get out of my way boy!"  
  
"Look no one has..." his sentence was interrupted as bullets started to rain down in his direction. Trunks was able to dodge them with ease however the merchandise behind him weren't so lucky and the old man dove behind the counter.  
  
With lightening speed Trunks snatched both guns out of her hands and crushed them into rubble.  
  
"Oh you think it's that easy huh?" she stated and out of nowhere pulled out a bazooka and fired it. This caught Trunks a little off guard however he was able to grab the projectile out of the air, threw it into the sky and let it explode overhead.  
  
[Man what is she? She's going to hurt someone if I don't do something about this.] He thought. And without her even seeing it, Trunks nailed her with an open chop to the back of the neck that knocked her out and she collapsed to the ground. He picked her up and carried her to the bench outside next to the street. "There everything should be okay now, if you could just call the police I'm sure that they would..." And again his sentence was interrupted, however this time it wasn't by bullets. It was by a powerful fist that landed perfectly in his right cheek. And he was launched a good one hundred feet into the air and came crashing down in the middle of the city street about thirty feet away.  
  
As Trunks slowly made his way to his feet, holding his jaw and the entire right side of his face, he was shocked by the force of the blow and was looking for the origin of the punch. He hadn't been hit like that since he first went to the past. And there he saw a young man about the same age as him, with black hair wearing a yellow sash across his forehead and tied in the back, and wearing what looked like a blue training Gi, with a yellow undershirt and sash across the waist. He was bent down at the waist over the old woman trying to wake her, and then looked up and saw Trunks getting up to his feet, with anger written all over his face.  
  
[Uh oh, I guessing it must be his mother by the way he's looking at me. It looks like he wants to kill me.] Trunks said to himself.  
  
"Okaa-san! Okaa-san!" he shouted "What did you do to her you bastard!" he demanded.  
  
Raising his hands in front of him trying to avoid any more conflict and obviously embarrassed "She's not hurt I just knocked her out for a short while, she came barging in the store with machine guns and she..." His pleads for reason met with more violence. With lightening speed that Trunks never expected, this young man flew at him. Literally flew at him and dealt another punch in his jaw sending him again flying across the way through heavy traffic.  
  
[Okay this is ridiculous; I got to stop this right now before anyone gets hurt.] He said to himself.  
  
And with great speed of his own, he dodged his opponent's next punch and nailed a left cross across his face that would have easily knocked out any normal human being. But this guy was different, he took the punch and shook it off and threw a sidekick to Trunks's stomach that nearly knocked the air out of him.  
  
[Who is this guy? His fighting style seems familiar somehow.] "Okay wait I don't want to fight you anymore! I just want to talk, who are you?" Trunks asked  
  
"The name's Kyushinhan, and I'm going to make you pay for what you did to my mother!" he responded  
  
"Kyushinhan wait! My name is Trunks can we talk about this?" Trunks pleaded, he really didn't want to hurt him.  
  
"No!" And flew at him again, this time however Trunks took to the air and Kyushinhan followed.  
  
[I didn't think it was possible that any human was able to control their Ki like this anymore, I have to find out more about him, and quick.] As Kyushinhan made his way towards Trunks, he teleported behind him and threw and overhand chop aimed at the back of his neck. Obviously intending to knock him out like Trunks did to his mother, Trunks on the other hand simply spun around and caught it and threw a left jab straight into Kyushinhan's face snapping his head backwards. Kyushinhan simply countered the punch by following threw with the punch with a backwards flip and kicked him directly in jaw. Again there was something familiar with his fighting style, and the two started to exchange punches in the air.  
  
While the two were trading blows in the sky, the old man made his way to the woman on the bench with something in his one of his hands. "Oi, Lunch! Wake up!" he demanded and slapped her across the face with the hand. Her eyes started to open and she began to say something but then the old man simply lifted his other hand close to her face and blew a handful of pepper at her.  
  
Her eyes watered and her nose twitched and then "AHH-CHOO!!" She sneezed. Her hair went from blonde to a faded bluish-purple.  
  
"Oh, what happened here." She asked  
  
"The same as always Lunch." Said the old man.  
  
"Oh no, I'm so sorry." She apologized "Where's Kyushinhan, I thought he would be right here incase something like this happened again."  
  
"Well he was but right now he's gotten into a fight with that young man up there." He said pointing up into the sky. The sonic booms of their fists hitting each other could be heard all over as the crowd down in the streets below watch the spectacle above them.  
  
"Oh my!" she exclaimed  
  
During the exchange Trunks landed a left knee to side of Kyushinhan's head. [This is actually kind of exciting; I haven't been in a real fight since I destroyed the Jinzouningen and Cell years ago.] As his knee landed the powerful blow, his opponents sash flew off his head revealing a third eye right in the middle of his forehead. A shock of electricity shot down Trunks spine as he saw his Kyushinhan's third eye.  
  
"Tie... Tien... Tienshinhan!?" Trunks gasped  
  
This also caught Kyushinhan by surprise; the only other person he heard say this name was his mother. "Where did you here this name!?" he demanded to know  
  
"Tienshinhan! Is that you?" It was all Trunks could bring himself to say at that moment even though he had already been told what his name was.  
  
"I said where did you here that name at!!!" and threw a spinning sidekick which Trunks blocked with his forearm. And then a shout could be heard from below.  
  
"Kyushinhan stop! I'm okay! Stop fighting up there and come down here!"  
  
Kyushinhan stared at his opponent and slowly made his way down towards his mother. "Okaa-san, are you alright? Did he hurt you?" he asked worriedly  
  
"I'm alright Kyushinhan. Yoshi-san turned me back to normal." She said pointing at the old man.  
  
"Arigato Yoshi-san." Kyushinhan stated as Trunks landed behind him. The sash lying on the ground, Trunks picked it up and tapped Kyushinhan on his shoulder.  
  
"What is it?" he asked still angry  
  
"Here you go." Handing the sash back over to it rightful owner. Kyushinhan took it out his hand without a word.  
  
"Are the two of you okay, I hope I didn't seriously injure any of you." Said Trunks  
  
"Hai, no thanks to you stranger... I've never seen you here before, why are you here?" Kyushinhan demanded to know.  
  
"Well I came here to buy a part from the store here." Trunks pointed which was now rattled with bullet holes. "Oh, I'm sorry about that."  
  
"Mm-Hm" grunted Yoshi-san "And how will you be paying for the repairs?" he asked  
  
Trunks sighed. "Just add it to my bill along with the part I need."  
  
"Will do." And walked back in to what was left of his store with Trunks's credit card in hand and ran it threw the computer.  
  
"You never answered my question, how do you know that name?" asked Kyushinhan, a little more calm now, now that he knew mother was in good health.  
  
"Huh, what name?" Lunched wondered  
  
"He knew Otou-san's name Okaa-san." He answered her  
  
"Otou-san? You're Tienshinhan's son?" Trunks exclaimed  
  
"You know Tienshinhan!" said Lunch  
  
"Answer my question!" Kyushinhan again demanded getting more heated now.  
  
"Calm down son, calm down, I'm sure he'll tell us... Right?" she asked him  
  
"It's kind of a long story but, Hai." Of course he wasn't going to tell them the whole story, well not yet anyway. He was going to have to wait for that one.  
  
"Oi, here you go young man!" aid Yoshi-san "And tell Bulma that if she needs anything from us we'll be happy to oblige her. As soon as we make the repairs of course."  
  
"Hai, I will." He replied  
  
"Bulma? You're Bulma's son?" Lunch asked excitedly  
  
"Hai! I am."  
  
Kyushinhan still puzzled by the whole thing and getting more so by each passing second, "What is going on here?! Who is Bulma, and how do you know my father's name!?"  
  
"Kyushinhan, this is Trunks..."  
  
"I know what his name is Okaa-san he already told me that much, but what about everything else?"  
  
"I'll explain, a long time ago Bulma, your father and I used to be good friends before he died. That's probably how he knows you father's name, she probably told Trunks about him before right?" she stated, her eyes wide.  
  
"Uh Hai! That's right. My Okaa-san used to talk about everyone before the Jinzouningen came." Trunks blushed; it was about as good a truth as any. It was true that Bulma would talk about them, but the fact that he actually met him before; he would keep to himself right now.  
  
"She would often say how strong they all were and how noble they were when they fought the Jinzouningen when they died." Said Trunks  
  
"Hai, he was a very noble man." Said Lunch as tears started to build in her eyes  
  
"It's alright Okaa-san, everything is better now." Said Kyushinhan comforting his mother.  
  
"But Okaa-san never said anything about anyone ever having any children though." Said Trunk  
  
The two of them looked up at once, and Trunks stepped back a bit, "I didn't mean to offend anyone, I apologize."  
  
"No you didn't it's just that I not surprised that she never knew at all. It wasn't exactly that we went advertising. Tell me how is your mother doing?"  
  
"She's doing very well thank you. Oi! I have an idea, why don't the two of you join us for dinner tonight?" Trunks said with exhilaration.  
  
"Tonight? I don't know about that." Kyushinhan answered.  
  
"Hai, why not!" Replied  
  
"Nani, but Okaa-san..."  
  
"Oh hush, it'll be okay... Don't worry Kyushinhan our families used to be real close in the past. Besides I would very much like to see some of them again."  
  
"Hai Okaa-san. I'll go to." Kyushinhan surrendered  
  
"Excellent, this is going to be great. Would you like to come now? I'm sure Okaa-san would love to see you again. Oh that reminds me, Chi-chi-san and her Otou-san are going to be there to."  
  
"Chi-chi's going to be there to! Oh hai, let's go, it's been so long since I've seen any of them." She wept as the memories of her old friends rushed into her mind, and the thought of coming into contact with them after all these years was almost more than she could bear.  
  
"Let's go then!" Said Trunks as he pulled out a small container holding a couple of hoi-poi capsules. [Never thought I would need to use these today.] He popped one out, pushed the little button on the top and threw a few feet away from them and "POOF." A luxury style air car capable of fitting six people appeared from the smoke.  
  
"Okaa-san will be very excited to see you again!" stated Trunks  
  
"So will I!" Lunch replied  
  
"Hmph..." Kyushinhan just mumbled to himself as he helped his mother into the car, his sash already placed back around his head as it was before. [I don't like this; I don't know any of these people. At least Okaa-san seems to be okay with it, I don't know...] 


	5. Chapter 04

CHAPTER FOUR  
  
Later that afternoon, "Well here you are, you two!" said Bulma as she landed the air car in the front yard of the Capsule Corp. House. It was huge, neither one of them had ever seen a house this big before.  
  
"Wow." Said Mikal "It's a really big house."  
  
"Why thank you Mikal. I've worked really hard to keep it, for a long there I thought I would never be able to rebuild it like it is now." She answered, obviously proud of her accomplishments in life, "Come on, let's get your wounds bandaged up."  
  
"Arigato."  
  
She led the two wayward children into her home and they were even more astonished by the amount of room there was on the inside than they were by the outside. She took them downstairs to her laboratory where all of her equipment was and succeeded in wrapping a nice tight bandage around Mikal's ribs.  
  
"There, that should work just fine. Just make sure you leave this on for the next three days and take this medicine before you go to sleep and your ribs should be completely healed." Said Bulma  
  
"Arigato Bulma-san, I appreciate this very much." Stated Mikal.  
  
"You're welcome, here follow me." And she led them upstairs to a couple of empty guest rooms that neither Bulma nor Trunks had used in years. "Here you go, the two of you can stay in these rooms here for the time being. There are some nice clean clothes that the two of you can change into too."  
  
"Um, Bulma-san." Said Pan "not to be rude or anything, but... I don't like handouts. I'm not saying that..."  
  
"Now what did I say before Pan-chan, don't think of it as charity or anything like that, the truth of the matter is I expect my employees to be nicely dressed when they come to work, and to know what they are doing. And since we have no real schools around here I'm going to have to have you stay here for right now so I can teach you two the skills you need to make it on the outside world." She hoped that she didn't offend either one f them by saying that, but she could see in their eyes that they didn't like being treated differently than anyone else. "Besides, I'm having a dinner party tonight with an old friend tonight and my son and I would like the two of you to join us."  
  
"A dinner party but we don't know anything about..." Pan started  
  
"Don't worry about you two, I'll introduce you to everyone, just relax okay."  
  
"Hai." Said the two of them  
  
"Good, I'll let you two get settled and I'll start preparing everything for tonight. If you need anything you know where I'll be." She smiled and walked off down the stairs.  
  
"I hope we didn't get into something we can't handle Pan." Said Mikal.  
  
"Me too. For some reason this feels more and more like she's trying to adopt us or something and hope that we'll stay and take her job offer."  
  
"But isn't that what we need, I'm tired of sleeping in the streets and having doors slammed in my face Pan. She's the only one who's actually giving a chance at a real life."  
  
"I know... Well, I guess it can't be too bad, she is offering to teach us everything we need to know. And besides once we start our real jobs, we can start paying her back for everything she's doing for us." Said Pan  
  
"So what are we waiting for? Let's hurry and get dressed and join her downstairs." Said Mikal  
  
"Okay."  
  
After about a half hour or so, Mikal and Pan came down the stairs washed and cleaned, and dressed in nicely adorned attire. Way to nice for what either one of were used to.  
  
"Now don't you two look splendid." Exclaimed Bulma.  
  
Both Pan and Mikal blushed, they were plainly nervous and somewhat embarrassed by the whole thing. But they accepted it, she was probably the nicest person they had ever run into and they didn't want to make her feel unwanted or anything.  
  
"Here I've made some lunch for you, I hope you're hungry." She said  
  
Hungry was an understatement they were starving, "Hai." Replied Mikal  
  
"Well dig in then, there's plenty of food in the house." Bulma explained  
  
"Arigato Bulma-san!" Mikal and Pan ran to the table and began to eat everything in sight, completely forgetting all table manners. Bulma just looked at the sight and laughed to herself. It had been a long time since she'd a display of this magnitude at the dinner table.  
  
Pan looked up saw what they were doing and immediately apologized for the mess they were causing.  
  
"Never mind that Pan-chan, the truth is I kind of miss the mess." She said  
  
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" asked Mikal  
  
"My son Trunks and his best friend used to make a mess at the table like this every time they would sit down and eat. They had the biggest appetites you'd ever seen. Actually his friend was more like a big brother and teacher to Trunks. But then, when the Jinzouningen killed him, his whole out look on the world changed. It's pretty hard for him to even talk about it even now."  
  
"I'm sorry, we'll be cleaner I promise." Said Pan  
  
"No, go on and be messy, I'd enjoy it." And the three of them laughed at the whole situation. "That reminds me, Trunks should've been back by now. He must still be at Big Mountain City. I hope he gets back soon."  
  
"Big Mountain City? That's pretty far away from here, what's he doing all the way out there?" asked Pan  
  
"Well he said he was looking for a part there to finish his project he's building in the back yard." She explained  
  
"What project?" asked Mikal, he was curious.  
  
"Here let me show you, I'm sure he won't mind." And she took them to the back yard where the Gravity room was being built.  
  
"Wow, it's pretty big, what is it for?" he questioned  
  
"Well, it's something his father used to use many years ago when Trunks was only a little baby. His father would spend hours in there training his body to get stronger. I guess you can say that he was a fitness buff." A pretty simple cover for what he really used it for.  
  
"How?"  
  
"Well, it would increase the gravity level inside the chamber slightly making your workout just that much harder. So when you're finished with the training and walk back out into normal gravity, you're much stronger." She explained further, without going into too much detail about how high it can really go. "Well come on, why don't we say that we get started for tonight huh?"  
  
"I'd like that." Said Pan.  
  
"Me too." Mikal agreed also.  
---  
It was about the mid afternoon, it took a lot to fly in the air car, but he didn't mind. Tonight was going to be pretty interesting.  
  
"We're almost there." Trunks said  
  
"At the Capsule Corp.?" asked Lunch  
  
"No, you'll see." He stated  
  
"What do you mean by that?" asked Kyushinhan  
  
"You'll see... We're going to see Chi-chi-san and her father first. I'm going to pick them up too."  
  
"Chi-chi's down there."  
  
"Hai."  
  
[Hmph, I better keep my eye on this guy. I still don't trust him.] Thought Kyushinhan.  
  
As they landed an old woman emerged from the house. "Oi, Trunks-kun. You're back already, aren't you a little early to be picking us up in your luxury air car?" she said with a smirk.  
  
"Chi-chi-san..."  
  
"Huh? What is it Trunks-kun?"  
  
"I have a surprise for you."  
  
"A surprise, what kind of surprise?"  
  
Just then from behind him, an old woman with bluish-purple hair stepped out of the air car, with tears in her eyes.  
  
"Chi-chi is that really you?"  
  
"L... L... Lunch... Is that you?"  
  
They stared at each other for a few seconds and then ran into each other's arms sobbing and laughing at the same time. Trunks stood by with a big smile on his face feeling good about himself while Kyushinhan looked a little dumb founded about the whole situation.  
  
[They really do know each other. I never would have guessed.] He thought  
  
"It's been so long, I thought you were dead! What happened to you?" said Chi-chi  
  
"It's a long story." Responded Lunch  
  
"We have all day."  
  
"Hai, we do!"  
  
They all made their way to the picnic table on the side of the house, a table that hasn't been used in years. As they made their way around the Ox- King came outside to see what all the commotion was and recognized who just arrived and sat down at the table with the rest of them.  
  
"Well first of all, Chi-chi, I would like to introduce you to my son, Kyushinhan." Began Lunch  
  
"Konichiwa Chi-chi-san." Greeted Kyushinhan  
  
"Konichiwa Kyushinhan." Chi-chi responded "Lunch I never knew you had a son. How old are you Kyushinhan-kun?"  
  
"Uh, twenty-three." Kyushinhan answered  
  
"Twenty-three? Who's your father?"  
  
"Tienshinhan..." Lunch answered for her son  
  
"Tienshinhan! Really, I knew that the two of you were together a long time ago before the Jinzouningen came, but I never knew you had a child."  
  
"It's kind of complicated."  
  
"Well we can always start from the beginning. Where have you been all these years I thought you were killed?" asked Chi-chi  
  
"I've been living in the outskirts of Big Mountain City."  
  
"All this time?"  
  
"Hai... After Son-kun died, Tienshinhan and I got back together and moved there where he could continue his training. When the Jinzouningen first came he thought he was strong enough to defeat them along with the others. But he wasn't, he barely escaped the first attack, and when he came back he wasn't the same man he was before. He said that he no chance of defeating them, and when he heard that Vegeta and Piccolo were killed he decided that he had to go and at least try, even though he knew he wouldn't be able to. We spent that last night together and when I woke up the next morning, he was gone. He left a note on the side of the bed with only one word, 'Goodbye.' And that was the last time I would ever see him. It wasn't to long after that I heard that he was dead, along with Kullilin and Yamucha too. Sometime later after I heard of his death that I found out I was pregnant, I was so scared."  
  
"It must have been real hard for you." Said Ox-King  
  
"It was... Where's Gohan, I'd like to see how much he's grown." Said Lunch, Chi-chi's eyes immediately filled with tears.  
  
"Oh, Chi-chi I'm so sorry... I didn't know, I just thought that, well... When the Jinzouningen were finally destroyed I just automatically thought that Gohan was the one that..."  
  
"I know, it was a long time ago." Said Chi-chi wiping away the tears from hey eyes.  
  
"Well then who?"  
  
Chi-chi just looked up at Trunks direction.  
  
"Trunks-kun, you..."  
  
"Uh Hai."  
  
"You must be pretty strong, like your father." Said Lunch  
  
"Hai, arigato Lunch-san." Said Trunks. As he looked around he noticed that Kyushinhan had made his way, away from the group, over to the far side of the yard near some trees. Trunks slowly did the same allowing his mother and Lunch talk about the good times they had in the past before all the chaos started and the Ox-King looking over the both of them with proud fulfillment that his daughter was happy again, even for a little while that one of her old friends came back.  
  
"Oi Kyushinhan" said Trunks  
  
"Huh, what is it."  
  
"What are you doing over here?"  
  
"Just wanted to be alone for a little bit, besides Okaa-san seems happy. I haven't seen her smile like that in years, she's happy."  
  
"Hai, so is Chi-chi." Said Trunks  
  
"What's your relationship with her anyway?"  
  
"Who, Chi-chi-san?"  
  
Kyushinhan nodded...  
  
"Her son Gohan was like a brother to me. He taught everything I needed to know about how to survive, and how to fight. He was my best friend... And when those monsters killed him it nearly destroyed her too. I came by everyday trying everything I could to cheer her up; she was crushed when he died. Gohan-san was the last thing she had and when he died a big piece of her died with him. A big piece of me as well." Trunks told him.  
  
"Hmm, she sounds like my mother when my father died. She never tried to show it, but I knew that her heart had been broken when he was killed. I never even knew my father." Replied Kyushinhan  
  
"Neither did I, he was killed by the Jinzouningen when I was only a little baby. My mother spoke very little of him except to say that he was a proud and strong man."  
  
"So does mine. Hmph, so it seems that we have something in common." Said Kyushinhan  
  
"Hai it does... If you don't mind me asking, how did you learn to fight like that, did your mother teach you?" Asked Trunks  
  
"HA-HA-HA!!" Kyushinhan laughed "No she didn't. When I was only a little boy, I found some manuscripts my father had written. During that last few weeks when my mother and father had gotten back together, my father recorded everything he possibly could about his training. Writing every last detail, I guess so that incase if someday someone were to find his manuscripts that they might be able to use his teachings to help fight off the Jinzouningen. I would sit down and study every page my father had written down and would practice them for countless hours during the night. Okaa-san was always worried that I might decide to one day challenge the Jinzouningen to a battle and die. She would have been right, no matter how much I trained myself over the years, I knew that I was in no condition to challenge them. The best that I could have hoped for would have been to distract them long enough for Okaa-san and some of the city inhabitants to escape, should they had ever shown up. Okaa-san says that I'm as strong as father used to be when he was still alive." Said Kyushinhan  
  
"Well you're right about that, you're definitely as strong as your father." Trunks said to himself, not even realizing he said it.  
  
"Huh?" Kyushinhan looked at him  
  
"Huh, oh nothing... Just talking to myself.  
  
"Anyway, I've dedicated my entire to my training, using my father's manuscripts to make myself even stronger than my father was, incase the Jinzouningen would return. Or maybe if something even worse than them would show up one day."  
  
"You sound like a real fighter Kyushinhan." Said Trunks  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"I must admit I was very impressed with your skills back there in the city."  
  
"As was I, I had never seen a fighter such as yourself before." Said Kyushinhan and extended his hand in mutual respect. Trunks did the same and they shook hands.  
  
"Oi, Trunks-kun, Kyushinhan-kun, we're going to be late!" it was Chi-chi, obviously shouting for them to hurry up and get moving.  
  
"Hai!" yelled Trunks "Let's go before they get mad.  
  
"I'll have to agree with you there."  
  
"Otou-san are you coming along?" asked Chi-chi  
  
"No, not this time. I'm getting to old for travel, you go ahead and have a good time okay." Said Ox-King  
  
"Hai." And she gave her father a big hug.  
  
A new friendship was started here today, and secretly, Trunks was excited. Ever since Gohan died, he had been lonely, with no real friends to talk to or train with, or to share the battles he must fight in. At least now there was someone he could fight and grow stronger with. Something told him that Kyushinhan would make an interesting friend. 


	6. Chapter 05

CHAPTER FIVE  
  
It was an awkward meeting for the four youths, the three older women however jumped right in laughing, crying and reliving old stories of when the were younger. When Trunks first saw Mikal and Pan in his living room, he didn't really know how to react. At first he thought that they might have been a couple of neighborhood thugs breaking into his home. When he landed the air car, the front door was open and he invited Kyushinhan, Lunch and Chi-chi inside to be met by Pan and Mikal holding some very expensive dishes in their hands. They were obviously surprised by his entrance and his mother was nowhere to be seen and he was about to confront them when Bulma came out of the kitchen clutching some fine dinner glasses in her hands.  
  
"L... Lunch?" she asked quite suddenly when she saw her long lost friend standing next to Chi-chi.  
  
"Bulma!" she shouted. And the same scene that was acted out earlier today at Chi-chi's house was replayed in the middle of his living room. Bulma was so excited to see her old friend Lunch again that she forgot all about Pan and Mikal.  
  
"Um, Okaa-san," said Trunks, "who are these two?" pointing over to the two teenagers still holding onto the dinner plates.  
  
"Oh, yes! I'm so sorry, I almost forgot. Come over here you two." Motioning them to come over, "It's okay, this is my son Trunks," pointing to the young man with the lavender hair. "And this is Chi-chi, and this is Lunch," motioning to the two older women. "And this is... Uh... who are you?" she asked the other young man who was a complete stranger to her.  
  
"Oh, Bulma, this is Kyushinhan. He's my son." Lunch answered  
  
"Konichiwa." Kyushinhan replied  
  
"You're son! Wow, you have got to tell me everything that's happened!" she exclaimed "Oh! Before we get any further, let me introduce you to my two new friends. This is Pan," she said putting one arm over her shoulders, "and this is Mikal." Putting the other arm around his.  
  
"Nice to meet all of you." Pan stated quite nervously.  
  
"Konichiwa." Said Mikal, not nearly as nervous as Pan.  
  
"Pan and Mikal are going to be staying with us for a while." Said Bulma quite plainly  
  
"Nani?" Trunks jumped a little, "But why?"  
  
"Well for several reasons actually... The first reason is because they are going to be working for us, and since there is no actual school for them to learn the skills they need, I'm going to be instructing them myself, and what better place to do that than here. And Secondly, they don't have any homes to go to, plus the fact that they pretty much saved my life earlier today."  
  
"Saved your life? What happened Bulma?" asked Chi-chi. Trunks looked on, shameful at his last statement. They must have been orphaned years ago.  
  
"Well, I was coming out of city hall after my meeting with the mayor, and then this motorcycle gang tried to rob me and these two came to my rescue. They're really good fighters for being so young. Especially Pan here, she took on most of the gang by herself and didn't even break a sweat. Isn't that right Pan?" said Bulma  
  
"Uhh... Hai..." she answered rather bashfully, her cheeks turning to a nice shade of pink.  
  
"There's no reason to be shy Pan, it's true you were very good." Bulma complimented her.  
  
"Arigato Bulma-san, but it was nothing really. They were pretty weak." She tried to explain why she defeated them so easily.  
  
"Well all except for that big guy, he was pretty strong."  
  
"Hai." Said Pan  
  
Then she looked over at Mikal and realized that he almost lost and started to apologize for her last statement.  
  
"There's no need for you to apologize for that Bulma-san, I know how strong he is." Said Mikal quite flatly.  
  
"Anyway, I offered them to stay in two of the extra guest rooms we have while I teach them, so it looks like we're going to have some company for a while Trunks."  
  
"Hai Okaa-san." Responded Trunks  
  
"Now let's get to where we left off, Lunch you have to tell me everything!"  
  
"Hai!"  
  
As the evening progressed, the group settled down at the dining room table and feasted as if they have been doing this for years. Trunks and Kyushinhan insisted that they bring the food when it was finished cooking. Allowing their mothers to catch up for lost time, and to let the two younger guests get comfortable. The food was brought in and everyone looked amazed. It was a lot more food than they originally thought, Bulma prepared more than she was going to do at first because of Pan and Mikal, but now since Lunch and her son Kyushinhan came by with Chi-chi and Trunks, it actually turned out to be a good thing.  
  
Everyone was sitting around the table and telling their own stories about what has happened to them over the past twenty years or so. Everyone's tales were filled with drama and sadness but always ended up with some sort of happy ending. The only thing Trunks left out, when it was his turn around, was the part about him going to the past and meeting Goku and all of his friends and about how he was able to change the events of the past but unable to change theirs'.  
  
Bulma, Trunks, Lunch and even Kyushinhan told their side. Pan and Mikal basically stayed quiet, listening on to the others, amazed at some of the things they were telling. People being able to fly, shoot beams of energy out of their hands, the only things that they knew were capable of doing the things they were saying were the Jinzouningen. And now they were all dead as far as anyone knew.  
  
Chi-chi noticed their silence and decided to break it. "Pan-chan, why don't you and Mikal-kun tell us about yourselves. I'm sure you got some stories of your own to tell."  
  
As everyone looked in their direction, they felt kind of embarrassed to be put on the spot like this. "Oh but we don't have anything to tell like you do..." Pan tried to say  
  
"Oh non-sense, I'm sure you have some very interesting stories you can tell us."  
  
"Uh, well..." The two teenagers looked at each other.  
  
"Okay, um..." Pan started out, "I never knew my father; he and my mother met when they were only teenagers and then she got pregnant and left him. I never understood why but one day she told me that she left him because she didn't want to burden him with any more responsibilities than what he already had. Okaa-san was a very proud and strong woman, and she would used to say that Otou-san had the weight of carrying the entire world on his shoulders; I never understood what that meant though. She would used to tell me stories about him, that he was very strong and that he will help the world become a better place to live one day.  
  
About eight years ago, my mother and I were in West Peppermint City when the Jinzouningen attacked and we were caught underneath some fallen rubble. I don't remember what happened after that that much, but I can remember my mother leaping over me and coving me as the debris fell down around us. I think I must have passed out because the next thing I knew, I was somehow outside of the rubble and Okaa-san was laying next to me and..." Pan's voice started to trail off as tears ran down her cheeks.  
  
"Oh, I'm so sorry Pan-chan. I didn't know... You don't have to say anything else." Chi-chi apologized.  
  
"I can't remember my parents at all, they died when I was very young. The only family I ever had was my brother. He always took care of me, made sure that nothing happened to me. But then a few years ago we were living on the streets and something inside of him changed. He told me that he refused to live as a victim and that from now on he would be the one running things. So he started this gang and started to bully people, taking their money and belongings. At first I went along with him because he was my brother, but I couldn't stand what he was doing to other people. I told him about it and asked why he would do something that the Jinzouningen would do. I think that was when he snapped, when I said he was like those monsters. He threw me out of his gang and told me that I wasn't his family anymore and that he would beat the hell out of me the next time he saw me." Stated Mikal, telling a small part of his own history.  
  
"That's terrible, how could he do that to his own brother!?" Lunch said disgustingly.  
  
"I wish I knew, but we've never been on good terms with each other since then. The truth is, he hated the Jinzouningen with all his being, and I think I broke his heart when I compared him to them." he said.  
  
"Either way that's a horrible thing to do." Said Bulma.  
  
"I guess so..." Mikal was quiet for a little while after that.  
  
An uncomfortable silence momentarily fell over the group, which Lunch decided to break by embarrassing Trunks. "So Trunks, do you have a girlfriend yet?"  
  
And of course he was embarrassed, blushing a light shade of red across his cheeks. "Un, no Lunch-san I don't." A burst of laughter ran around the table at his expense and suddenly Chi-chi noticed something very familiar in one of Bulma's new young friends. It was Pan-chan's facial expression when she laughed that caught her attention. She could have sworn that she's seen her before; by the way she looked at that moment when she giggled at Trunks's obvious humiliation, but she knows that she's never seen her before in her entire life, so she just simply dismissed it as maybe a trick of the light or something. The rest of the evening went very well, conversations lasted all night and early into the next morning before anyone had realized.  
  
"Oh my, it's 2:30am! We'd better get going back home now." Said Lunch  
  
"What, oh no, I hadn't realized it was so late, I had better be going back to before Otou-san gets worried about me." Chi-chi reiterated  
  
"Non-sense, you're all going to stay here tonight, I have plenty of extra guest rooms in my house that I never use. Besides, all of you would probably end up falling asleep at the wheel and cause an accident before you get home tonight anyways." Bulma pointed out  
  
"Are you sure?" Lunch asked  
  
"Of course it is!" she answered.  
  
"Great!" Lunch exclaimed  
  
Mikal was already starting to fall asleep on the couch in the living room. Everyone made their way upstairs, Bulma showed Chi-chi and Lunch to their rooms and said that Kyushinhan could stay in Trunks's room for the night.  
  
Neither Trunks nor Kyushinhan could sleep that night. Trunks wasn't used to someone else sleeping in his room for long time, no one had slept over at his house since Gohan, and Kyushinhan for that matter wasn't used to sleeping anywhere else besides his own room.  
  
"Can't sleep?" asked Trunks staring at his ceiling.  
  
"Nope... You?" said Kyushinhan lying on top of the sleeping bag that was set out for him.  
  
"Nope... I'm not accustomed to having sleep over."  
  
"I'm not comfortable sleeping in strange places, truth is, I haven't been anywhere else besides my own home... I don't tend to travel around that much."  
  
Trunks sat up on the edge of his bed and walked to the door, "I think I'll go take a walk."  
  
"Hey, it's your place... Go right ahead."  
  
Trunks walked very quietly throughout the house, it seemed like everyone was asleep except for him and Kyushinhan. As he made his way to the terrace he noticed that someone was already out there, at first he didn't recognize them but then remembered who it was.  
  
Pan was leaning on the rail staring up at the sky; she was wearing one of his mother's old pajamas that she couldn't fit into anymore. The wind was blowing in her hair and she looked quite pretty actually, he didn't notice it earlier. As he kept looking at her, there was something about her that seemed recognizable, like he's seen her from somewhere before but he just didn't know when. Just then Pan turned slightly and saw someone in the corner of her eye and jumped a little when she saw Trunks in the doorway of the Terrace. Trunks was a little surprised as well and tried to hide the fact that he was blushing.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't know I wasn't to be up here, I'll go." Said Pan  
  
"No that's okay, I didn't mean to startle you like that; I just saw someone standing out here and was wondering who it was, that's all."  
  
"Oh... So it's okay that I'm out here?"  
  
"Sure, what are you doing out here anyway? Can't sleep?" asked Trunks making his way to where she was standing.  
  
"No not really... I don't sleep that much, and when ever I do I usually cry myself to sleep or have nightmares."  
  
"Why? I mean if you don't mind telling me... I don't mean to pry." Said Trunks  
  
"I miss my mother, I loved her very much... She was my entire world."  
  
"Oh... I'm sorry."  
  
"It's okay," she said and pulled out her silver locket from around her neck. "This is the only thing I have left of her. Just a couple of small pictures of Okaa-san and my father." She opened it and looked at the pictures of her parents. Trunks turned his head away, respecting her privacy. Had he did look however, there would have been a picture of someone he would have recognized very well in there, but he didn't.  
  
"Well, I think I should probably be getting to bed now. It's pretty late and the sun's going to come up in a few hours." Said Pan  
  
"Hai, I should do the same... Sorry if I scared you back there."  
  
"It's alright, you don't have to apologize... Well, uh, good night Trunks."  
  
"Good night Pan."  
  
Trunks stayed out on the terrace for a few more minutes and thought to himself, [I really should get some sleep. I'm going to have to wake up pretty early tomorrow and finish installing the final part for the Gravity Room. With a few minor adjustments to it, it just might work out perfectly.] And with that last thought, Trunks made his way back to room and finally went to sleep. 


	7. Chapter 06

CHAPTER SIX  
  
Trunks woke up the next morning at about 6:30am and noticed Kyushinhan was gone. He heard some low noises outside and looked out the window to see Kyushinhan in the backyard practicing his kata forms. He recognized the style; it was Tienshinhan's all right.  
  
He got dressed and made his way outside; no one else was awake yet. Kyushinhan was mimicking Tienshinhan's Kikoho technique.  
  
"Not bad," Trunks critiqued "it's pretty good actually, but I think you need to widen your stance a little when you perform that move."  
  
"And how would you know that? If you don't mind my asking?" replied Kyushinhan looking over his shoulder at Trunks.  
  
"Oh it's nothing really, it's just that, that's the way I would do it."  
  
"Oh really?" Kyushinhan smirked, "You know we never really did finish that fight we started yesterday... Why don't we test out your theory on whether or not you can perform the move better than me."  
  
"Is that a challenge?" Trunks smiled  
  
"If you call it that, then yes it is."  
  
Trunks pulled off his jacket, threw it on the ground and made his way to the other side of the yard across from Kyushinhan. Both fighters were smiling as they got into their stances and prepared for what would be a pretty interesting match up.  
  
In an instant, they dashed at each other with lightening speed and collided forearms, testing the other's strength, neither one of them was willing to give way. However, the strain on their muscles forced them to push away, and again they darted at each other. Trunks threw an overhand punch at Kyushinhan's face as Kyushinhan ducked under it and threw an uppercut aimed at Trunks's chin. Averting Kyushinhan's fist, Trunks flipping backwards with both hands, kicking with both legs only to hit nothing but air as Kyushinhan avoided it by spinning sideways in mid air landing to his right hand side.  
  
As he landed, he threw out his leg at Trunks's arms, barely sensing this, Trunks pushed up on his hands propelling himself six feet in the air and landed just in time to block a powerful blow to the head from Kyushinhan's left foot as his other foot came from behind. Ducking under his second kick, Trunks spun in a half circle and landed a solid elbow strike to the small of his back sending him flying about twenty feet in the air across the backyard. As Kyushinhan was still hanging in mid air Trunks followed him intending to land another hit, but his plan was interrupted when he threw his fist and it went right through an after image of Kyushinhan's body. His surprise was also met with a potent blow across the left side of his face. This time it was Trunks who was sent flying in the air crashing into a tree.  
  
Meanwhile, inside the Capsule Corp. House, in an upstairs bedroom, Pan slowly stirred awake by the noises outside. Yawning and rubbing her eyes she looked out her back window to see Trunks and Kyushinhan exchanging blows faster than she could keep track of, and then all of a sudden they both disappeared. She ran downstairs to the backyard patio to see if she can find where they went. There was no sign of them anywhere, but then she heard some "Boom" noises from above. As she looked up, Pan could see flashes all over the sky of both Trunks and Kyushinhan. She couldn't make out exactly what was going on but she could tell that they were really going at it. Her eyes were gazed wide open; she had never seen anything like this before. Just then they made their way back to the ground, Pan stepped back, surprised at their amazing speed.  
  
"Trunks."  
  
Trunks, taken off guard, looked over his shoulder and was pounded in the face with huge fist. Knocked backwards about 20 feet or so, Trunks looked up from the ground at Kyushinhan who had a shocked and puzzled look on his face. At that same time, Pan jumped, a bit startled at the voice from behind her. She turned around to see Bulma, Lunch, Chi-Chi and Mikal all standing behind her.  
  
"Trunks, what are the two of you doing this early in the morning?" asked Bulma  
  
"Okaa-san, we were just sparring." Trunks tried to explain  
  
"Well next time try to do it more quietly."  
  
"Hai... Sorry Okaa-san."  
  
"The same goes for you too Kyushinhan." Said Lunch  
  
"Hai Okaa-san." Kyushinhan replied  
  
With that settled the three older women turned and headed back in the house, Mikal on the other hand stayed outside with the others, amazed at the recent scene of events that just unfolded before his eyes. He had never seen such a fight before in his life, the power, and the speed. It utterly astounded him.  
  
"Next time Trunks, we're going to finish our fight." Said Kyushinhan  
  
"I agree." Trunks replied  
  
"Oi!! Trunks, Kyushinhan... How did you do that? That was amazing!" exclaimed Mikal as he ran up to them both. "The two of you were flying through the air, I've never seen anything like that before."  
  
"Oh, well... It just takes a lot of training and time to get to our level of skill." Stated Trunks  
  
"Really, can you teach me?"  
  
"Uh, well... I really don't know... I don't see any reason why not, but I'm not sure how Okaa-san will like it."  
  
"HA-HA-HA!! It looks like you have a new student Trunks." Kyushinhan laughed and slapped him on the back of his shoulder.  
  
"Kyushinhan-kun!" Lunch shouted from inside the house  
  
"Hai!" Kyushinhan replied  
  
"Can you come here real quick please?"  
  
"Hai!" And with that he left Trunks outside and went to help out his mother  
  
"Please Trunks-san, I promise I'll be a good student!" Mikal pleaded  
  
"Well, okay, but I'll have to see if it's alright with Okaa-san first."  
  
"Hai!!" Mikal shouted  
  
Pan still stood there in the doorway, not sure about what to say. Mikal was very obvious about his excitement, but she didn't want to make it look like she was as excited about what she saw as Mikal. Besides, neither one of them knew the Briefs family very well, and she didn't want to overstep her welcome incase Bulma would change her mind about letting them stay at her home and teaching them herself. She knew herself that she was always strong compared to other people but she didn't begin to compare Trunks or Kyushinhan. [How did they get so strong?] She wondered.  
  
"Um..." Pan started  
  
Trunks and Mikal looked over and saw Pan walking over to where they were looking a little nervous.  
  
"Trunks, is it okay if you could train me too?" she asked  
  
"You too?"  
  
"If it's not a problem of course. I mean I don't want to get in your way or anything."  
  
"No it's alright, but it's just that it's a bit sudden. I mean I never thought that I would be training anyone to fight. The truth is I'm not sure if I would be a good teacher, but I'll do me best." [Gohan and Goku-san were better teachers than I could ever be.]  
  
"Hai, thank you Trunks-san. I promise I won't disappoint you." Said Pan  
  
"Trunks-kun, Pan-chan, Mikal-kun! Breakfast is ready, come in!" shouted Bulma  
  
As they walked in they saw Kyushinhan with about seven large plates of food in his hands, trying to balance everything while laying them gently on top of the table without dropping of them.  
  
[Hmm... So that's why they called him in.] Trunks thought.  
  
As the sweat beaded on his forehead, Kyushinhan somehow managed to put all the plates down without making a mess, a huge liberation on his part as he breathed a sign of relief.  
  
Later that morning after breakfast Kyushinhan and Lunch were going back to Big Mountain City. Bulma gave them one of their air cars as a present.  
  
"Good-bye everyone, it was good seeing you again!" Lunch cried out over the roar of the hover engine.  
  
"Bye, make sure you come back soon!" shouted Bulma  
  
"Hai!"  
  
"Oi Trunks, it was good meeting you. I'll have to start training harder to beat you the next time." Said Kyushinhan  
  
"Hai! So will I!" Trunks replied  
  
"I expect nothing less!" Kyushinhan responded  
  
With that last sentence the air car lifted into the air and their friends on the ground waving good-bye as they flew away.  
  
(Sigh) "It looks like I'll have to leave soon too. Otou-san can't cook very well and I'm worried he might burn the house down if he tries to make breakfast for himself." Said Chi-Chi.  
  
"Hai, I'll take you home Chi-Chi san." Said Trunks  
  
"Arigato."  
  
"Trunks, why don't you take Pan and Mikal with you. They don't have to start school until tomorrow anyway." Bulma suggested. "That is, if it's okay with you Chi-Chi."  
  
"Oh of course. I haven't had a full house in a long time. It'll be nice."  
  
"Really, we wouldn't want to impose Chi-Chi san." Said Pan  
  
"No it's okay. Besides, I have a nice big field the two of you can run around in if you want."  
  
"Arigato Chi-Chi san." Said Mikal  
  
A few moments later they were on their way to Chi-Chi's house. Bulma wanted to stay behind to get her curriculum ready for her new students. Besides, she had a couple of projects of her own she wanted to work on.  
  
It took them a while to reach Chi-Chi's house in the air car, but they didn't mind. The two passengers in the back seats were enjoying the ride as they passed over the cities and the forests below them. They had never seen the Earth from above before.  
  
"Here we are." Said Trunks as he landed in the front yard.  
  
"Wow you live out here Chi-Chi san!" said Mikal quite excitedly  
  
"Hai." She replied  
  
As they exited the air car the fresh air filled their lungs and they made their way to the house.  
  
"Otou-san!" shouted Chi-Chi "Otou-san where are you!"  
  
"Oi Chi-Chi you're back!" came a voice from behind the house. "I'm glad, I was getting hungry and was worried that I might have to cook for myself." Said the Ox-King as he made his way around. "Oh I see we have visitors."  
  
"Hai, this is Pan and Mikal." Said Chi-Chi  
  
"Nice to meet you."  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
In the south end of North Pepper Town, in an old abandon warehouse, Guy and his gang were still recovering from their recent fight with Pan and Mikal.  
  
"Damn that Pan, who the hell does she think she is anyway!? Thinks that she can interrupt me in a fight!" A beaten down and bruised Guy cursed to himself.  
  
"Yeah, if it wasn't for her, we would've had all of that old lady's money and jewelry. I bet we could've gotten at least 50,000 zeni off of her." Said Toji, one of the gang's youngest members.  
  
"I know, but then Pan and Mikal had to ruin everything. I'm really getting tired of those two, always butting in our business." Stated Tara. She was the only girl in the entire gang, but she didn't care. The other three, Shinji, Kendo and Lee were all sitting on an old couch nursing their wounds and pretty much kept quiet.  
  
"You know, I heard that that old woman was Bulma Briefs, the president of Capsule Corp." Said Toji  
  
"Really?" Guy looked up.  
  
"Yup... I also heard that she took those two back to her house after we lost the..." he stop short after catching the evil eye from Tara and Guy both. "Well, I mean uh... Anyway I heard that she took them both home with her. Something about giving them a place to stay and some kind of real jobs and stuff."  
  
"She took them home?" Guy asked  
  
"That's what I heard." Toji replied  
  
"And how would you know that?" said Tara  
  
"I have my sources." Toji answered smugly  
  
"Yeah right." Tara scoffed  
  
"Quiet, let me think." Guy snapped as he put his brain to work on how he could benefit from this situation. "Toji, you know where she lives?"  
  
"In New Capitol City I think."  
  
"Good, I got a plan get back at those two and get rich at the same time." He smiled to himself  
  
"How?" asked Tara  
  
"First, we're going to go to New Capitol City and find where they live. Then we're going to wait until they're asleep. And when they are, we're going to tie them up to their beds and beat them to a bloody pulp. And after we're finished with that, we're going to loot the entire house before the sun comes up. HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!!!"  
  
"Yeah!!!" shouted everyone in unison  
  
"But remember, Mikal is mine. You guys can have the other two." He stated  
  
"No problem boss, we can handle them." Shouted Shinji from the couch  
  
"I certainly hope so." Said Guy  
  
"But boss, what if they wake up?" asked Lee  
  
"What are you a coward?" shouted Tara  
  
"I'm not a coward, I'm just being rational. What if they wake up and call the police or beat us again." Lee stated  
  
"That's not going to happen this time. This time we're going to take some sleeping gas with us to make sure that they don't wake up." Guy said with confidence  
  
"But where are we going to get sleeping gas boss?" asked Kendo  
  
"Do I have to think of everything in this gang." He said and started to think about it. "There's that new chemical plant that opened up a few weeks ago just outside the city, I'm sure they'll have something we can use."  
  
"Yeah!!!" everyone shouted  
  
"So what do you say gang, you in or not!"  
  
"HAI!!" They all jumped and then suddenly fell back down again almost immediately clutching their multiple injuries.  
  
"But first why don't we rest for a while before we get them." Said Guy while holding on to his ribs.  
  
"Hai..." everyone moaned. 


	8. Chapter 07

CHAPTER SEVEN  
  
On the outskirts of Cashew Island, almost a thousand miles from the coastline of Big Mountain City, a loan figure stays motionless, levitated in the air under the rays of the afternoon sun. Kyushinhan was taking this time to meditate and to contemplate on recent events. His rather violent run in with Trunks opened a door that may lead to a new chapter in his life. He had never encountered another with a power level as great as his before. Having never coming across the Jinzouningen in the past, this will be the first time that he will be able to truly test his skill and push his potential to new limits.  
  
Kyushinhan had meditating ever since he and his mother returned back home from Capsule Corp. A pulsating field of bright blue Ki coursed its way throughout his body. Hovering above a small cliff, overlooking the forests of Cashew Island, Kyushinhan straightened his body and opened his eyes. With a new determination for his training, he focused his Ki, and cross his arms across his chest. As light illuminated from his body, he began to split, not once, not even twice, but three times.  
  
Three new versions of himself surrounded him, one in front and the other two in back. Without warning all three versions of himself attacked Kyushinhan head on, giving it their' all. His true self in the center, defending himself the best he could, blocking and dodging almost every punch and kick that was thrown at him.  
  
One version of himself catching Kyushinhan off guard with a flying knee to his lower back while the other two in front landed simultaneous round house kicks, which Kyushinhan was just barely able to block. However the forces of the combined blows were powerful and sent him plummeting towards the rock face below. Using his Ki to break his fall, his launched himself towards the sky.  
  
His other three versions meeting Kyushinhan halfway, all four them were once again involved in a violent exchange of fists, and feet. Ducking underneath one the versions left cross, he shot himself at full force towards him landing a most powerful blow to the center of the stomach, almost to the point of punching his fist straight through his back.  
  
While in this position, a second version came from above. Descending at lightening speed, spinning 360 degrees attempting to smash a very powerful foot in the top of his head. Sensing his approach, Kyushinhan spun around and caught his assailant by his ankle. Using his momentum, Kyushinhan followed through with the spin and swung the second version into the first one like a baseball bat, sending the first one flying across the sky before he finally crash landed in the forest floor below.  
  
Still in his grasp, Kyushinhan increased the rate of his spin, spinning faster and faster like a tornado. The air surrounding them whipping around like a giant funnel. Releasing his assailant, he was sent straight into the sky higher and higher unable to slow his ascent.  
  
Brining his hands together into a diamond shape, he focused his Ki for one shot...  
  
"KIKO-HOOOO!!!" He screamed.  
  
Just then a bright, yellow flash of energy shot from his hands and struck with all its power into its target. The blast exploded as a ball of fire in the air, and as the smoke cleared the unconscious body fell to the cliff below.  
  
Looking around for the last one, he couldn't find him anywhere. Suddenly the final version of himself appeared behind him and snapped his arms around in a powerful bear hug, squeezing the life out of him. Screaming in pain, Kyushinhan had no choice to power up his level of Ki in order to escape the final version's death grip. Blue flames of Ki exploded all around him as the force of the energy being emitted, hurled the final version of himself away from him. Turning around, he was now faced with a mirror image of himself, who was now also powering up to match the level that he was currently at.  
  
They stared at each other for a few seconds, measuring each other, and in a brilliant white flash; the two of them dashed towards one another. Their fists colliding, neither one willing to give, electricity was sparking and crackling all around them as the pure force of the power being produced finally exploded, sending them in opposite directions.  
  
Again they flew at one another, this time disappearing in the aftermath of a sonic boom. All across the skies of the Cashew Island forest below, the sounds of sonic booms could be heard as the two fighters swapped blow after blow. In the climax of one such boom, the figure of one of the fighters was sent screaming to the earth below as the other followed closely behind.  
  
Unable to avoid his inevitable crash to the approaching floor below, he extended his arms and deflected himself backwards along the ground. Following suit, the other fighter spun forward catching the ground with his feet and launched himself forward only to be met with a flying sidekick to the chest. Which sent him flying across the sky, his opponent used this opportunity and shot himself at great speed behind him.  
  
Not knowing this he stopped himself by using his Ki, only to allow his opponent with the advantage of a stationary target. And which also allowed his opponent to land a double-heel kick in the middle of his back that sent him crashing right into the side of the cliff. Trying to maximize his advantage, his opponent was now preparing a "kikoho" of his own when the faint cry of a "taiyoken" could be heard from the cliff side.  
  
Just then, the entire side of the cliff exploded and crumbled into small pieces as the pure white light, as powerful as the sun burned the retinas of his opponent's eyes. Blinded, his opponent was firing energy blasts in all directions out of desperation. Now, the once downed fighter flew into the air towards him, dodging all Ki blasts with ease.  
  
Landing a solid punch in the face, he landed another and another. To his face, stomach, and chest. Using his remarkable speed and agility he spun around him smashing a powerful back fist to the side of his opponent's temples. Twirling in the air, his opponent had no chance to defend himself as his ribs were met with a commanding roundhouse kick that sent him flying across the sky.  
  
Barely being able to pull it out of him, he was able to stop his movement by using his ki to stop himself. His sight now returning to him, he looked around furiously for his assuming target. Only to see nothing, and then he sensed that he was directly above. However it was too late, by the time he spun around to look, Kyushinhan was already in position for his final attack.  
  
"Do-Don Pa!!!"  
  
He shouted as the powerful energy beam collided with the final version of himself. Sending him hurtling towards the earth below like a comet, and exploding in a brilliance of bright, yellow light that could be seen for miles. Breathing heavily and sweating profusely from his fight, Kyushinhan slowly descended to the earth below. First landing near the version of himself on the rock face of the cliff. Reabsorbing him back into his body, he went from one to the other, finally flying over to the last version of himself who was lying in the middle of a crater that was made by his last Ki blast.  
  
After reabsorbing the part of himself back into his own body, he felt stronger, much stronger in fact. The days' training has treated him very well.  
  
[I should do this more often, I feel great.] He thought to himself [I haven't felt like this in a long time. Finally a challenge to test my skills, hmph... I will defeat you one day Trunks.]  
  
Back at the Son house...  
  
The five of them were laughing and having a good time. They had spent the entire morning at the Son house and now it was the middle of the afternoon.  
  
"Oh my!" Chi-Chi exclaimed. "Look at what time it is, how would you kids think about lunch?"  
  
"Hai! That sounds great!" Said Mikal  
  
"Thank you Chi-Chi-san, that does sound real good right about now." Replied Trunks  
  
"Good, I'll get started." Stated Chi-Chi  
  
"Uh, can I help?" asked Pan  
  
"Of course you can Pan-chan." And with that, Pan got up and left with Chi- Chi in the kitchen.  
  
"This has been a good morning, it's been a long time since I've seen Chi- Chi laugh like that." Said Ox-King  
  
"Hai." Agreed Trunks  
  
Inside the house Chi-Chi and Pan were preparing lunch.  
  
"Pan-chan, can you hand me the pot please?"  
  
"Hai." Pan said and started to rummage through the cabinets looking for it, but was having a little trouble locating it.  
  
"It's at the bottom." Chi-Chi smiled  
  
"Oh, thank you."  
  
As the two ladies were fixing lunch Chi-Chi and Pan engaged in idle conversation.  
  
"So Pan-chan..."  
  
"Hai..."  
  
"What do you think about Trunks?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, don't you think he's attractive?"  
  
When Chi-Chi asked her that question, Pan was taken back by the forwardness of it and accidentally dropped one of the dishes breaking it, and blushed quite red.  
  
"Gomen-nasai. I didn't mean to..."  
  
"Oh, don't worry about it, I have plenty of dishes." Said Chi-Chi  
  
"You still haven't answered my question."  
  
"Chi-Chi-san, I... I don't even know Trunks that well and..." Pan started out  
  
"That doesn't matter, I've noticed the way you look at him..."  
  
"Nani!?" Pan felt embarrassed, now that she thought about it, she did think that Trunks was cute but she never thought that she was obvious about it.  
  
"I've noticed him glancing at you too, although he's a little more shy about it. I think you two would make a pretty cute couple." Chi-Chi said  
  
"Uh, Chi-Chi-san, Trunks and I don't have that kind of relationship." Pan stated  
  
"I know, that doesn't mean you can't make one later on in the future."  
  
"Uh Chi-Chi-san..." Pan was quiet red by this time; she couldn't believe that Ch-Chi, a woman she has only recently met was trying to get her together with Trunks, a guy who she's only known for maybe a day or two. Just then Ox-King walked in...  
  
"Is everything okay in here, we heard some noises in here and got worried." He said  
  
"Everything's alright Otou-san, Pan just dropped one of the dishes that's all."  
  
"Are you okay Pan-chan?" he asked  
  
"Hai, I think I should get some of the food outside now." She said rather urgently so she could avoid some of the questioning Chi-Chi was asking.  
  
"What was that all about, she looked a little nervous?" he asked Chi-Chi  
  
"Hai, I think I might have embarrassed her a little bit, nothing to worry about though. She'll be alright."  
  
"Funny..." He said to himself  
  
"What is?" Chi-Chi asked  
  
"Hmm... Oh, nothing. It was just that She reminds me so much of Gohan for some reason." He pointed out.  
  
"Nani?" Chi-Chi said, startled a little by her father's comment. "How?"  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry Chi-Chi, I didn't mean to upset you."  
  
"What do you mean she reminds you of Gohan, please tell me!"  
  
"Well, its only small things, the way she laughs and the way she smiles that's all. It's the same way Gohan used to smile and laugh. It doesn't really mean anything though."  
  
Chi-Chi started to think about what her father said, and thought back when they were all back at Bulma's house. She did notice something familiar about Pan when they were at the dinner table, but she never gave it much thought. However, now that her father said it, she did remind her of Gohan somehow. Chi-Chi didn't like not knowing for sure if Pan had something to do with Gohan, she had to find out somehow.  
  
Later that day everything went off with out a hitch, the kids had a good time and so did the adults. It was a long time since Chi-Chi has had a good time at home. However she couldn't keep what her father said to her out of her mind. She still kept all of Gohan's belongings in his old room. She could never bring it upon herself to throw them all out even after all of these years. They were the only things of her son she had left.  
  
It was now getting into the late evening and they had to go home. Trunks reactivated the air car by pressing the button on the hoi-poi capsule, and in an instant a loud "POOF" was heard, accompanied by a bright orange cloud of smoke. As the smoke cleared away the air car revealed itself, Trunks and Mikal immediately climbed in as Pan was just about to hop in herself when Chi-Chi tapped her on the shoulder.  
  
"Pan-chan, you be careful okay."  
  
"Hai, thank you for today Chi-Chi san."  
  
"Your welcome."  
  
A few moments later the air car took to the clouds and headed back towards Capsule Corp. After they left Chi-Chi went into what was once Gohan's room. She looked at all the old memories that stayed behind. Pictures, old toys, books, even some of Gohan's little child clothes. She kept everything. In the closet was a big trunk that Gohan kept a lot of his personal belongings in. She had never really looked in it before, even though he has been gone for many years now, she felt like she was invading his privacy. But she had to know what the relation was with Pan. Her Otou-san had been right; there were too many similarities between Pan and Gohan to be a coincidence.  
  
Chi-Chi rummaged through the trunk, there were old photo albums of earlier days when they were happier. Pictures of when everyone was still alive, Goku, Gohan, Tienshinhan, Kullilin, Yamucha, Chao-Tsu. She kept flipping through the pages; there were some of even Piccolo, Vegeta, and even Trunks when he was a baby. As the pages kept going forward there were fewer pictures of the people she once knew, and then she went to a page that caught her attention. There was a picture of Gohan and a girl that she had never seen before.  
  
As she studied the picture Chi-Chi noticed that the girl in the picture looked a lot like Pan. She had the same hair and eyes as Pan does. By the way they looked in the photo Gohan was probably fifteen years old, so the girl couldn't have been much older than that either. There were several pictures of the two of them together, but then the pictures of the girl stopped and went to some that were taken much later. In the next sets of photos, Trunks was maybe twelve or thirteen, Bulma was in it to along with Chi-Chi and Ox-King together. It was the last picture they had ever taken, not long after that Gohan was killed in a fight with the Jinzouningen.  
  
Chi-Chi went back to those pictures of Gohan and the girl; she took one of them out of the photo album and looked at it more carefully. As she flipped it over there was something written on the back. "I love you Gohan... Videl."  
  
[Videl... Was that Pan's mother? I can't remember if she said what her name was or not. I'll have to talk to Bulma and see if she knows anything.] 


	9. Chapter 08

CHAPTER EIGHT  
  
Early next morning, Pan woke up to the sounds of "BEEP, BEEP, BEEP" of the alarm clock next to her bed. She couldn't believe that she actually had to get up at 6:30 in the morning to go to school, (sort of). Pan had never been to school before; she wondered what it would be like. Even though it was only her and Mikal, it was still the same thing. She got out of bed and took a shower, changed her clothes and went downstairs. When she got there, Bulma had already prepared breakfast and saw that Mikal was already sitting down at the table.  
  
"Oh, Ohayo Pan." Said Bulma  
  
"Ohayo Bulma-san." Pan replied  
  
"How did you sleep last night?" Bulma asked  
  
"Quiet well actually, thank you."  
  
"Well eat up you two, we start in a few hours."  
  
"Huh, Bulma-san, where's Trunks? Is he coming to breakfast?" asked Mikal.  
  
"Oh he woke up earlier, he said that he was almost finished with putting the final touches on the Gravity room and wanted to get started as soon as possible. I swear if he'd just put in as much time and effort with Company business as he does with his own projects, he could've taken my position as President by now." Bulma iterated  
  
"Oh so he's outside then?" asked Pan  
  
"Hai. He should be done by now though I would think. He's been out there in that thing for a couple of hours now." Said Bulma  
  
"Cool, I hope he'll let us fight in there when he's finished." Mikal said out loud. Not to anyone in particular, mostly to himself.  
  
"Huh, what do you mean Mikal-kun?" asked Bulma  
  
"Oh when we saw him and Kyushinhan spar each other the last time, we asked him if he could train us how to fight like him, and said he would!" Mikal said with some enthusiasm.  
  
"You too Pan-chan?"  
  
"Hai, I hope you don't mind Bulma-san, but Mikal and I would like to get stronger like Trunks and Kyushinhan. But since Kyushinhan lives in Big Mountain City, it's easier if Trunks teaches us." Stated Pan  
  
"Hmm, he never said anything to me about it." Bulma said quietly  
  
"Huh, he said he would. Maybe he forgot about it."  
  
"You're not mad at us for asking him are you Bulma-san?" Pan asked  
  
Bulma stood there for a few minutes while Mikal and Pan looked at her hoping she would let them train with Trunks. She had to contemplate the idea for a little while.  
  
"No I'm not mad, but it's been a long time since I've had anyone other than Trunks train to fight under the same roof. The last person who did that was his father Vegeta, and he was killed when Trunks was only a baby." Bulma explained. "Well I'll have to think about it a little more. As soon as Trunks comes out of the Gravity room I'll ask him about it..."  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
Trunks was lying on his back inside the main computer core in the center of the Gravity room. Sparks and light were being emitted from where he was in, as he was connecting the final piece together.  
  
"Finished! Finally, it was harder that I thought it would be but I finally got it done." He spoke aloud. "Now let's see if it works."  
  
Securing the side panel, Trunks began entering commands into the computer. He began running diagnostics on all systems. After a few minutes, readouts came back positive.  
  
"ALL SYSTEMS FUNCTIONING NORMALLY."  
  
[Good!] "Computer begin voice recognition program." Trunks said out loud  
  
"Voice recognition program established."  
  
"Begin hologram training program number one."  
  
"Training Program One initiated... Select environment..."  
  
"Hmm, select random landscape and weather settings."  
  
Acknowledging his last command the interior alloy walls of the room around him began to change shape and took form of a desert like surrounding with tall rock-like plateaus all around him. There was a gloomy sky above him with dark gray clouds as they began to thunder and lightening. The wind picked up and sand and dust peppered his face.  
  
[Amazing, this place feels so real, it was as if I was really here.] He thought to himself.  
  
"Set Gravity level..."  
  
[Hmm, I haven't trained hard in a long while; maybe I should start with something light to begin with.] "Set level to fifty times Gravity." Said Trunks. All of sudden, it felt as if an enormous weight was dropped onto his shoulders as he bent over from the Gravity change.  
  
"Oh yeah, it's going to take me a little while to get used to this." Trunks said to himself.  
  
"Select opponents..."  
  
"Run all opponents at random except those from my personal file."  
  
Almost immediately Trunks was blind sided by a giant claw like fist to the right side of his face and was catapulted across the landscape and crashed into a rock plateau twenty feet away. Instantly the monster that struck him leapt into the air and crashed down in the pile of rocks the was just recently created. However, Trunks was able to dodge the attack, but barely. The high level of Gravity retarded his reaction time and made him slower than he expected to be. But he was still fast enough to get out of the way with no worries.  
  
[This is going to be fun after all.] He thought to himself.  
  
Looking over his opponent, he was one of the dozens of a variety of monster images that he had scanned into the computer's memory to provide a wide scale of possible holographic opponents to train with. It was a monster from an old issue of "Jump" magazine. An old, popular, manga-comic book from when he was a little kid. He was a big, red, lobster like creature with big claws and real strong.  
  
Trunks launched a forward attack and was surprised when the lobster-like monster fired an energy beam from its mouth. Trunks dodged the attack and fired an energy beam of his own that struck the monster in its torso. Knocking it to the ground with a loud thud that sent dirt and rock into the air.  
  
Jumping into the air and flying straight down, Trunks came crashing down directly onto the monster. However it grabbed both his ankles, hopping up quickly it began to spin him around and threw him into another rock plateau. But unlike the last time, Trunks just used his momentum to bounce of the rock and speared the monster directly in the sternum sending him flying across the horizon. As the monster slowly disappeared over the dark sky, he heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed right behind him and moved his head in time from being sliced off his shoulders. He spun around to see that his new opponent was another manga-comic book character, a green, samurai lizard, with a long razor sharp claws and a powerful whip- like tail.  
  
The lizard swung his sword over and over again attempting to strike Trunks. Trunks on the other hand kept moving backwards further back, dodging the blade with remarkable speed. Suddenly, the lizard spun around cracking his tail and struck Trunks in the chest. The sharp impact almost knocked the wind out of him, as the sword came flying across his face. Flipping backwards, Trunks was nowhere in danger of being cut, just then the samurai lizard appeared behind him and sliced his sword downward, towards the top of his head.  
  
Trunks caught the blade with his hand and punch his reptilian adversary directly in the face sending him colliding with rocks behind. The samurai lizard then flew high into the air and fired several energy blasts at Trunks. Trunks took to the air himself and shot himself right past the lizard and struck him in the back of the head with a powerful back fist that sent roaring to the ground below like a falling star. And then from above him came another blast, this time as he looked up to block it; it was from a giant purple like creature with bat wings.  
  
His training went on like this for hours, with opponent after opponent appearing right after the other when he defeated them. For being in fifty times gravity, Trunks was doing pretty well against computer-generated adversaries. He wanted to warm up and get used this level first before he began his real training program. That will be more difficult, especially with the opponents that he downloaded for it.  
  
He had downloaded the images of all his friends from his mother's old photo album, Tienshinhan, Yamucha, Goku, Kullilin, Piccolo, and even Gohan and his father. He specifically programmed them to act like the real ones he knew. Hopefully they won't act to real to where he would get emotional about it. After several more hours, it was almost 4:30 in the afternoon before he even knew it, and he was also getting hungry. Training like this in fifty times gravity can work an appetite.  
  
"Computer end training program and set gravity level to normal." Said Trunks  
  
After a few moments, the violent settings around him disappeared as it was replaced with the real background of the metallic interior of the gravity room, and the gravity level began to ease up until it was lowered to normal.  
  
Sweat beaded off Trunks's face and he was breathing deeply as he wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. With the gravity now set to normal he felt extremely light and thought he would float into the air if he didn't have more weight put on him. There was a towel and a bottle of water he had set near the entrance of the room early on, he went over, picked up the towel and wiped the rest of the sweat off his face and body and drank big gulps of water. The water refreshed his body as it went down, but then his stomach rumbled and he needed to get some food in him.  
  
[Maybe Okaa-san started dinner early. I doubt it though.] He thought to himself. As Trunks was walking into the house he saw the three of them sitting in the living room chatting away. Just them Bulma looked up and saw her son.  
  
"Trunks, was there something you wanted to tell me?" she asked  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"You remember, something about training Mikal and Pan wasn't it?" she said as the eyes of Mikal and Pan turned and gazed at Trunks.  
  
[Oops! That's right...] "Oh Yeah I was meaning to ask you about that. I got so caught in completing the Gravity Room I completely forgot. I'm sorry Pan, Mikal." Trunks apologized  
  
"That's okay, besides that's what we thought happened." Smiled Pan  
  
"Well, huh, anyways Okaa-san... Is it okay if I started to train them?" asked Trunks scratching his head.  
  
"Well..." Bulma was silent for several minutes taking everything in. "Hmm, I tell you what. I'll let you train them here, but it has to be either in the back yard or in the gravity room, and only on one condition." She added  
  
"Huh, what?" asked Trunks  
  
"That you will have to start taking part in company business like a real business man." Bulma stated quite firmly  
  
Trunks's jaw dropped and his eyes widened like melons. "Whaaaaatt!? But Okaa-san, I don't know anything about business! That's your department." Stating his case  
  
"Oh I think you know more than you think you know, besides, you're my son. Not only are you a scientist like your mother, but also you're a first- class business man like your mother and someday you're going to take over the company like I did."  
  
His jaw still open, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He didn't have the first clue about business or the company. His passions were science and fighting. That's all he's ever truly been good at.  
  
"Those are the terms." Crossing her arms in front of her. "You can always learn a new trade besides fighting you know."  
  
"I...I...I...I..." Trunks stuttered.  
  
"Please Trunks, please." Mikal pleaded.  
  
"I... Uh, okay... I guess... It's a deal. I'll learn to be a business man." Trunks relented  
  
"Good then you can start tomorrow by closing the deal with the Mayor in North Pepper Town I started not to long ago."  
  
"What! You want me to start tomorrow!?"  
  
"Yes, you're going to close the deal with the Mayor about opening up a state-of-the-art hospital there."  
  
"But I don't know anything about the hospital!"  
  
"Well then here..." she said as she slammed a stack of papers and documents almost three feet high into Trunks's hands, seemingly out of nowhere.  
  
"This... This can't be... I've got to read all of this?" Tears coming to his eyes  
  
"Hai, and you should start pretty soon, you have to close it by tomorrow noon. Now with that settled, I'm getting hungry, let's start dinner."  
  
"Hai." Said Pan and she went with Bulma into the kitchen while Mikal was looking at Trunks with the biggest grin on his face.  
  
"Man Trunks, I'm glad I'm not you right now. That'll take you all night to read." Said Mikal jokingly.  
  
The shocked looked on Trunks's face disappeared as his head slowly turned to Mikal with a menacing look in his eye.  
  
"What? What is it?" Mikal said nervously, he didn't like the look in Trunks eyes.  
  
"If I'm going to read this, then so are you. You're going to my assistant, which means that you're going to go with me tomorrow and help me close that deal. If I got to do it, then you're going to do it too." He said with an evil smile, much like his father's.  
  
"Huh!? But I'm not a business man!"  
  
"Neither am I, but if I'm going to be, then so are you. It's your way of paying me back to train you." Just then he dumped half the stack into Mikal's arms. "Now start reading!"  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
Back at the Artic Laboratory, the super computer has designed a new form of Jinzouningen from the remnant parts of earlier models as an enforcer and reconnaissance unit.  
  
Beginning construction of Android Unit Twenty-Two...  
  
Construction is initialized...  
  
From the center of the room, a huge table rose from the floor, along with giant motorized arms and tools from both the floor and the ceiling. Sparks flew as these arms were placing mechanical parts on to the table.  
  
Download program into Android processing unit...  
  
Download Complete...  
  
Estimated time of completion... Six months, twelve days and seventeen hours. 


	10. Chapter 09

CHAPTER NINE  
  
Trunks and Mikal were in an air car flying towards North Pepper Town, they had spent the entire night reading over the documents and contracts concerning the new hospital deal with the mayor. It was already 9:00 am and they were just about 5 minutes away, neither one of them had gotten much sleep. In fact they weren't done with the stacks that Bulma gave them until around 6:30 am. Bags under both of their eyes, they were determined to make this deal go through, no matter what. Trunks even had to put on a suit for this deal, and he hated wearing suits.  
  
"Oi Trunks, there it is, down there." Said Mikal pointing down over to the capital building of the city.  
  
"Good, let's just land down in front." Said Trunks  
  
"Hai."  
  
Landing the air car in front of the capital building, neither one of them knew that they were being watched from across the street in an alley way.  
  
"Hey Toji, look at this..."  
  
"What is it now Shinji?" replied Toji releasing his mugging victim to the ground. "Hey get back here!" But it was to late, by the time he realized what he did, the would-be victim of yet another mugging was running away at top speed.  
  
"Now see what you did, I almost had his wallet." He scowled  
  
"Toji look! Over there by that air car, isn't that Mikal?" said Shinji  
  
"Huh!?" Toji made his way over to the alleyway opening behind a dumpster. "Yeah it is! Hmph, little bastard, I hate that kid. Hey who's that guy with him? I've never seen him before."  
  
"I don't know, but he looks like an important guy. He's wearing a suit and holding a briefcase and everything." Replied Shinji  
  
"What's Mikal doing hanging out with a business man anyway?"  
  
"I don't know... Hey I got an idea, lets mug 'em."  
  
"Good idea, but first we should go and tell Guy, he'd want to be in on it too."  
  
"Right, I'm going back and tell him that Mikal's back. He'd want some revenge after what happened the last time."  
  
"Exactly, and besides I don't see Pan anywhere so this should be an easy one to do. That business guy doesn't look too strong anyway." Said Toji. "I mean look at him, he can't even stop messing with his little neck collar, he looks nervous."  
  
Which was partially true, Trunks was trying to loosen his neck collar because he was having trouble breathing. It was on too tight and he was incredibly nervous about the deal with the mayor since he had never anything like this before. How his mother would even consider of having him doing something like this he will never know. "Well Mikal, no point in wasting time, let's go." Said Trunks  
  
"Hai, I just hope that everything goes well."  
  
"Me too." And they both started walking up the stairs of the capital building to the main entrance and went inside. Meanwhile Shinji and Toji were watching the both of them the entire time.  
  
"Okay, Shinji go back and tell Guy about Mikal right now, and I'll stay here and make sure they won't leave." Smiled Toji  
  
"Right, I'll be back." And with that Shinji pulled out a hoi poi capsule, that he stole from an elderly couple, from his pocket and clicked the button. With a loud "POOF" the capsule turned into a hover van. Hopping into the driver's seat, Shinji took off into the air and made way to their hideout.  
  
Back at the hideout Guy and the rest of the gang were stuffing their faces with a load of sweet and sour chicken they ripped off from a delivery boy just as Shinji pulled in.  
  
"Oi guys! Huh, hey wait a minute... You guys have food and you weren't even going to tell us!"  
  
"Oh we're sorry, should we have?" Lee stated quite sarcastically  
  
"Well it would have helped you know." Shinji retorted only to be met with laughter by Lee, Kendo and Tara  
  
"Is there something you wanted Shinji?" asked Guy  
  
"Huh, oh yeah! Mikal's back!"  
  
"Nani!?"  
  
"Yeah, he's back at the capitol building right now. Toji is keeping an eye on them."  
  
"Alright, let's go!" Guy commanded  
  
As the rest of the gang gathered in the alley where Toji was waiting for them, Trunks and Mikal exited the building and dropped on their butts on the steps of the capitol building.  
  
"Oi, Guy there they are, they just came out." said Toji  
  
"Move over, let me see." Said Guy shoving out of the way and hiding behind the dumpster so he wouldn't be seen  
  
"What are they doing?" Kendo asked  
  
"It looks like they're just sitting there." Guy answered  
  
"Good, let's jump them." said Tara  
  
"No, remember the plan. First we'll track them to where they live and hit them in the middle of the night. Kendo, Lee, did you two get the sleeping gas?"  
  
"Hai, it was harder than it looked, we almost got caught by the police." Lee answered  
  
"It doesn't matter now, we'll wait until they leave and then track them down when they reach New Capitol City. Take a look at the air car they're driving, it looks like a silver, four-seater, with the license plate "CPSL CRP1". You guys remember that number, when we get to the city, that'll be the car we'll be looking for."  
  
"Well, okay Guy but, what do we do until then?" asked Tara  
  
"First we wait until they leave, and then when they do, we go back to the hideout and get the sleeping gas and start driving to New Capitol City. When we get there we wait for nightfall and then scout the city until we find them." Guy answered  
  
While all of this planning was going on in the alleyway, Trunks and Mikal were sitting on the steps of the capitol building, almost to the point of sobbing.  
  
"Five Minutes... That's all it took was five minutes... He just needed to sign the contract and that was it. This is completely unfair, we spent all night going over those papers and documents and we didn't even need to. We didn't even get any sleep cause we were so stressed out over the deal." sobbed Mikal his eyes watering  
  
"It's not fair at all, Okaa-san knew this would happen. She did this just to toy with us. She wanted to see if we could take it. Well, we might as well go back and tell here the good news I guess." Said Trunks his eyes to on the point of watering  
  
"But Trunks, ten thousand pages... We spent last night going over ten thousand pages of policies, and rules, and procedures and all kinds of stuff I can't even remember anymore." Mikal complained  
  
"I know Mikal, I know. Let's just try to get past it now. It's over and we have to move on. I'm so tired right now; I think I'm going to take a nice long shower when I get back. Come on, let's go." said Trunks. They stood up and the two of them made their way to the air car and climbed in. Trunks however stopped for a second and looked around the area.  
  
"Huh, what is it?" asked Mikal  
  
"I thought... Hmm, I thought we were being watched for a second. Oh well, it doesn't matter let's just go back."  
  
"Hai."  
  
Back in the alley...  
  
"That was close, I thought he noticed us for a second. It's a good thing we were behind this dumpster otherwise he might seen us." said Guy "Alright guy's lets go back to the hideout and grab the gas, we got a long trip ahead of us."  
  
"Hai." they said in unison.  
  
Later that afternoon, around 4:00pm, back at the Capsule Corp House, Mikal and Pan were just finishing up on their "school work" for the day and decided they needed a little rest.  
  
"Man this is a lot harder than I thought it would be." said Mikal  
  
"I agree, I never thought school could be so complicated." said Pan  
  
"Oh this is just the easy part, wait until I start teaching you the hard stuff." stated Bulma  
  
"Hard stuff, you mean it gets harder than this?" asked Mikal  
  
"You got it." smiled Bulma  
  
"Oh no..."  
  
Bulma just smiled and laughed at the response, it made her feel good to be teaching them about the company business, after she's gone, Trunks will be left with Capsule Corp all by himself, and he's going to be needing some help. At about that same time Trunks walked in from the back yard, a towel wrapped around his neck and a bottle of water in his hand.  
  
"You done with school for today Okaa-san?" questioned Trunks  
  
"Hai, they're all yours now."  
  
"So you guys want to start your training now?" he asked the pair  
  
"Oh, yes of course, we'd love too." Pan said enthusiastically  
  
"Good, you two should probably go and get dressed in something more appropriate. Hmm, I think I got something that might work for you two." He led them upstairs to his room, where he opened up the footlocker at the foot of his bed. Inside were some of his old fighting Gi's that he hadn't used in years. "Here you two go, this one should fit you pretty well Mikal." he said while passing him an old, dark blue, training Gi he used to wear when Gohan would train him. He also had one of Gohan's old Gi's in there as well. It was the one Gohan used to wear when he was a teenager and Trunks was still a little boy. "Hmm, I think this one might be to big for you though Pan. I'm sorry, but that's the smallest one I can find." He was actually a little hesitant in giving it to Pan, because it once belonged to Gohan, but for some strange reason he couldn't explain, he felt that it was hers. some how.  
  
"I think I can make it fit." They turned around to see Bulma watching them.  
  
"Are you sure Bulma-san?" asked Pan  
  
"Of course I can, it'll just take a few minutes, no big deal. Come on, let's go to the sewing room and I'll tailor it to fit you right." said Bulma as the two women left Trunks's room  
  
"Well, while they're fixing Pan's Gi, I'll be outside waiting for you two okay."  
  
"Hai." Mikal responded  
  
About ten minutes later Mikal was already outside; the Gi actually fit him much better than Trunks originally thought it would. Mikal seemed to be really excited about starting his new training.  
  
"It looks good on you." Trunks remarked  
  
"You think so?"  
  
"Yeah, not bad."  
  
"Oi, I'm ready too." came Pan's voice from behind the two. Bulma did an excellent job of tailoring the Gi to fit Pan. A little to well actually, Trunks couldn't help but to stare at her as she made her way towards the two. He hadn't really noticed all the curves in her body before until now; it was almost skin-tight, as far as he was concerned.  
  
"Huh, is something wrong Trunks?" asked Pan  
  
"Nani? Oh, no, no of course not. It's just I wasn't expecting Okaa-san to finish it so fast that's all. It looks good on you." Trunks muttered out and slightly embarrassed. He could feel his cheeks turning pink right about now.  
  
"Oh, you really think so? Thank you, Bulma said that this should do me well, it feels really light and comfortable too."  
  
Mikal on the other hand just took it all in stride and was getting quite anxious to start his training.  
  
(Cough) "Okay, well let's get started then. First off we're going to learn on how to control your Ki." Trunks stated, trying to sound like a real sensei  
  
"What's Ki?" asked Pan  
  
"Hmm... Well... Ki is the energy that's inside of you. It's what makes you alive; every living thing on this planet has Ki. And if you can learn to control your Ki, you can get stronger and do amazing things."  
  
"Like what?" asked Mikal  
  
"Well, like flying for example. Remember when the two of you saw Kyushinhan and I spar each other, that's just a sample of what you can do if you learn to control Ki like we can."  
  
"Cool." said Mikal  
  
"Okay what I need the two of you to do first is sit on the ground with your legs crossed like this... And then place your hands in front of you stomach like this... Then I want you two to close your eyes and concentrate on focusing your Ki to this space between your hands and try to make it form into a ball. Watch..." Trunks demonstrated to his new pupils exactly what he wanted from them. And in just a split second, a glowing, golden ball of energy formed in the middle of his hands. Both Mikal and Pan were awe struck by this; they had never known it possible for a human to have this kind of power before.  
  
"Now you two try, but remember, don't force it to happen, relax and imagine the Ki flowing through your body." As he was giving out his commands, both Mikal and Pan were concentrated on doing this simple task; a task that will prove to be far more complicated and difficult than either one of them thought.  
  
A hour had passed by and nothing was happening, both of them were starting to get frustrated. Which was quite expected, actually. Trunks didn't think that they would be able to accomplish this right off the bat. But these two were strong fighters; he had sensed that right from the beginning. He knows they can perform this; it'll just take time. "Imagine as if the ball of energy is already there in your hands and you're holding it, don't try to make it happen, you have to let it happen. Feel the Ki pulsating from your body, flowing into your hands, and feel it leave through your fingertips. Just breathe normally and it should happen all on it's own."  
  
The pair relaxed listening on Trunks every word, and slowly it started to happen. First Pan felt heat emanate from her hands and could hear a quiet humming noise. She opened her eyes to see a tiny golden ball of energy floating between her hands.  
  
"Yata, I did it, I did it!" she exclaimed.  
  
"Very good Pan, I knew you could do it." said Trunks  
  
A moments later Mikal was yelling the same thing, they had both achieved this small yet tremendous goal of learning how to control their Ki in ways the never knew possible until now.  
  
"Okay both of you did very well, now that you've learned how to do that, I'm going to teach the next step in controlling your Ki. Now I want both of you to stand up and try to levitate above the ground like this." Demonstrating again what seemed to be a simple feet, but much harder than it looked. Trunks floated about two feet above the ground; "It's basically the same thing as before. Except this time instead of forming an energy ball in your hands, imagine yourself floating and feel your Ki lifting you into the air. Remember don't try to force it because if you force it, then it'll never happen. You have to let your Ki do it for you and just it happen on it's own."  
  
They stood there with their eyes closed, meditating, trying to feel themselves floating in the air. After several minutes there was a slight stirring in the wind, emanating from Pan and Mikal. And very slowly they started to rise in the air, only a few inches at first, but then they started to get a little higher and higher. Finally they opened their eyes and saw that they were in fact at almost eye level with Trunks now.  
  
"That was very good you two, now try to land on the ground slowly." said Trunks as he himself landed with both feet firmly planted on the ground.  
  
"Hai." they said in unison, and slowly descended to the earth below.  
  
"We did it!" shouted Mikal "I never thought I would ever be able to do something like this!"  
  
"Well you did, and I'm proud of both of you!" Trunks exclaimed  
  
"Really?" asked Pan with a big innocent smile  
  
"Of course I am. You two accomplished in a couple of hours what took me a couple of days to learn." explained Trunks "Okay now that you've both succeeded in those tasks, I want you to combine them. Floating in the air and forming an energy ball in your hands at the same time, and we'll just keep practicing this for now until you both have mastered it."  
  
"Hai!" exclaimed Pan and Mikal.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
At the same time that Pan and Mikal had started their training, Guy and his gang rode into the outskirts of the New Capitol City on their motorcycles.  
  
"Alright you guys, we're finally here... Let's find those little bastards and make them pay for messing with us." Said Guy  
  
"Yeah!" the rest of them said in unison  
  
"Good let's split up and search the city. Now remember, if you see them, don't let them see you, just come and find me. We'll meet up at that old water tower over there." said Guy pointing to the water tower in question about one hundred feet down the road. "Agreed!?" More as a statement of fact not a question  
  
"Got it boss." said Toji  
  
"Good, then let's get going." With his last command they took off again on their bikes splitting up in all directions.  
  
The sun was starting to go down as Guy was riding on his bike searching for the Capsule Corp building and the car the spotted earlier. And by pure luck, he happened to be headed straight for it. About four blocks down the road he saw the Capsule Corp House with a silver four seater parked in the front drive way.  
  
[That must be it right there. I better park this bike around here somewhere and make the rest of the way on foot so they won't hear me.] He said to himself. Ditching his motorcycle behind the local mini-mart, he made his way to the Capsule Corp house. It was getting dark now so the likely hood of him being seen was remote.  
  
He made his way to the drive way, [That's the same license plate number CPSL CRP1. This is the place all right!] Thinking to himself. Looking around just to make sure he wasn't spotted by anyone, he slowly crept his way behind the trees around the back yard. [Man this place his huge, it's like they have their own forest or something.]  
  
Just then he saw three people standing in the back yard. Two of them were dressed in some funny looking clothes, and the other one was dressed in plain clothes as far as he could tell from his position behind the trees. [Wait a minute, that's them! What are they doing in those stupid get ups.] And then all of a sudden it was as if they shrunk in front of his very eyes. [What the... My eyes must be playing tricks on me. It's just the light getting dark, that's all.]  
  
What he didn't know was that he just witness all three of them, Trunks, Pan and Mikal descending to the Earth for the last time before heading inside. As they entered the house Trunks stopped short and looked around again as he did earlier that day in North Pepper Town.  
  
"Trunks, what is it?" asked Pan  
  
"Hmm, nothing. I thought I heard something."  
  
"Oh okay."  
  
[That's twice today. Somebody is definitely out there in the trees somewhere, oh well, what ever he wants from this place. He won't get far if he tries anything.] Thought Trunks, and he smiled to himself and went into the house.  
  
[That was close. That's twice today he almost saw me. I must be making more that I thought or something. Either I know where you live now. And we'll be coming back real soon.] Guy said to himself. He slowly made his way out of the trees. Making his way back to his bike, he rode off to meet the rest of his gang at the water tower. 


	11. Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN  
  
The next morning, the daylight of the rising sun peered through the open curtains in Chi-Chi's bedroom. As the morning sleep drained it's way out of her body, she found herself staring up at the ceiling. It's been several days since her father made the observation about how similar Pan was to Gohan, she tried not to think about it, but it has occupied every waking moment of her life since then. She just wasn't able to put it out of mind, what does Pan have to with Gohan, she couldn't stand it any longer, she had to know.  
  
Chi-Chi went downstairs and fixed her father some breakfast. "Oi Ch-Chi, you're not having any?" He asked  
  
"Not today Otou-san, I'm not hungry."  
  
"Oh okay, if you're sure. I could leave some for you for later if you want."  
  
"No Otou-san, that's quite alright. You can have all of it."  
  
"Well, okay then." Ox-King replied  
  
Chi-Chi went back into the kitchen, picked up the phone and dialed Bulma. "Ohayo Gozadimas."  
  
"Ohayo Gozadimas Chi-Chi. How are you?" asked Bulma  
  
"Oh I'm okay, how about you?"  
  
"I'm doing great! I'm starting class with Mikal and Pan-chan in an hour."  
  
"Class? What kind of class?" Chi-Chi asked  
  
"Science, math, business and economics."  
  
"Wow, I'm glad I'm not in a class with you. Hahaha!"  
  
"Hahaha!"  
  
"Um, Bulma I need to ask you about Gohan." Chi-chi stated  
  
"Gohan? What about Gohan?" Bulma was getting a little worried as to where this conversation was leading  
  
"Um, do you know if Gohan had any girlfriends before he died?" Chi-Chi asked  
  
"Girlfriends? Um, hmm, I don't know... I don't think so... Why are you asking me?"  
  
"Well I was going through some of Gohan's old things in his room and he had some pictures of himself and a girl. It had some writing on the back; it said, "I love you Gohan, Videl". Do you know who she was?"  
  
"Videl?" there was a moment of silence lasting several minutes as Bulma contemplated over this. "Videl, hmm... Now that I think about it, there was a girl that Gohan brought over to my house one time. But that was many years ago, I'm not even sure if they were actually together or not."  
  
"Really? Gohan never brought a girl over to our home before, I wonder why."  
  
"Well, from what I remember she came over just one time and then she disappeared a few days later. I just assumed that she was killed." Bulma stated  
  
"Bulma can I come over so we can talk some more?" asked Chi-Chi  
  
"Of course you can! I'll send Trunks to pick you up."  
  
"Arigato Bulma!"  
  
Not to long after the conversation between Bulma and Chi-Chi ended, Trunks showed up in the air car. "Ohayo Chi-Chi-san!" shouted Trunks as he was landing the car in the front yard.  
  
"Ohayo Trunks-kun!" When the air car touched ground Trunks opened the door for Chi-Chi and she climbed in. After she shut the door closed, the car took to the air again and they were on their way to the Capsule Corp House.  
  
When they finally reached the Capsule Corp House, Bulma was in the driveway waiting for their arrival. They greeted each other happily and went inside with Trunks making his way to the backyard.  
  
"Bulma do you think you can postpone your class with Pan-chan and Mikal this morning, at least for a while." Chi-Chi requested  
  
"Why?" asked Bulma  
  
"Well, remember the conversation we had earlier, it's very important to me."  
  
"Of course. Oi Trunks!" Bulma shouted  
  
"Hai Okaa-san." Said Trunks coming through the back door  
  
"I'm going to start my class a little late, if you want you can start their early this morning."  
  
"Hai, I'm sure they'd enjoy that very much." As if on cue the two of them made their way down the stairs ready to begin the day.  
  
"Oi, you two should go get dressed in your Gi's, I'm going to be taking you into the Gravity room this morning." Said Trunks  
  
"Huh, but isn't our class supposed to start now?" inquired Pan  
  
"Chi-Chi and I have some important matters to discuss, so I asked Trunks to take over this morning for your training." Stated Bulma  
  
"Great I'll go and get dressed right away!" Shouted Mikal  
  
"Good, I'll wait for you two outside." Trunks watched as his eager students ran back up stairs to throw on the proper attire. He made his way back outside and waited next to the gravity room. Impressed by yesterday's performance by his new students, he thought that they should be able to put their new abilities into perspective if they were to train against some realistic enemies in new surroundings.  
  
Bulma lead Chi-Chi to the couch in the living room, "Let's sit down, do you want anything to drink first?"  
  
"No that's quite alright, thank you."  
  
"So, where do you want us to start?"  
  
"Here take a look at this..." Chi-Chi handed the picture over to Bulma just as Mikal and Pan ran down the stairs.  
  
"Train well this morning!" yelled Bulma as they passed the two older women by.  
  
"Hai, we will." Mikal shouted back as him and Pan scurried outside to meet up with Trunks.  
  
Outside Trunks was waiting at the door of the Gravity Room. "Oh, that was certainly fast. Great, let's get started then." He pushed the button on the outside panel and the giant metallic door opened up. Trunks lead the two of them inside; they were in awe as they peered around the giant room. The interior was completely constructed of metal as far they could tell and the temperature was cool.  
  
"Wow! This is very impressive Trunks." Said Pan  
  
"Thanks, it took me a long time to build it."  
  
"So what are we going to do now?" asked Mikal  
  
"Simple, you're going to do the same thing you did yesterday... Except this time, you're going to be doing it in a higher Gravity level. Since you have no experience in this I'm going to start you off easy." Said Trunks "Computer set gravity to level two." Lights started blinking on and off in rapid succession on the main computer at the center of the room as the gravity suddenly got heavier. Pan and Mikal felt as if they were abruptly given ten bags of heavy cement on their shoulders to lift.  
  
"Oh wow, this is heavy." Said Mikal stating the obvious.  
  
"This is heavier, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be." Said Pan  
  
"Well, its only going to get heavier later on the more we train in here you know. So you might as well try and get used to it. Now I want to not only see the two of you float in here, but I want to see you flying around the entire room before we're done today." Uttered Trunks  
  
"Flying? But we couldn't even do that yesterday." Said Mikal  
  
"No time to complain about that now. Just give it everything you got."  
  
"Hai."  
  
Pan was already floating about three feet in the air by this time, however she was having a harder time that she previously thought she would in this higher gravity level. Mikal followed suit and started floating as well. Trunks on the other hand, was zipping pass them, flying around the room at an incredible speed. This was kind of discouraging for the other two who were having problems getting much higher than ten feet in the air. But they weren't about to let that get them down. They bound and determined to be flying around like Trunks was doing by the end of the day.  
  
A few hours had passed by and both Mikal and Pan were getting much better at controlling their Ki. Mikal was zipping from one side of the room to the other in short quick spurts, clumsily mind you, but adequately. Pan had much more control over her Ki in this respect. She was trying to catch up with Trunks, who had challenged her a little earlier to try and tag him if she could.  
  
"Come on Pan, you got to fly faster than that if you want to catch me." Trunks teased her  
  
This of course was starting to get on her nerves and only made her more determined to catch him. "Oh I will." She shouted  
  
"Really? When?" adding some more speed to his flight, angering Pan even more.  
  
"Hey! That's not fair!"  
  
"I never said I was going to make it fair." He smiled. Trunks was really starting to enjoy teasing with Pan.  
  
Just then Mikal jump out right in front of him blocking his escape path, apparently trying to assist Pan. Mikal threw out his arms in an attempt to slow Trunks down but to no avail. Trunks merely shot straight up to the ceiling and bounced down to the floor below. Both Mikal and Pan started chasing him with everything they had. One would try to block his path while the other would try to grab hold of him. They would fly around the entire room bouncing off one wall to another from the floor to the ceiling. This little game of tag went on for several minutes, and then a little light bulb went off in Pan's head. Making her way to bounce off the floor, Pan suddenly collapsed clutching her ankle.  
  
"Ahhh!!" she screamed. Forgetting about the game they were having, things abruptly got more serious as both Trunks and Mikal stopped in mid-air to go to Pan's side.  
  
"Pan what happened!? Are you okay!?" Said Trunks now greatly concerned with her welfare.  
  
With a little grin on her face, Pan suddenly jumped up and tackled Trunks to the floor beneath her. "Ha, I got you!" But the rapid feeling of success was replaced by awkwardness as they both soon discovered that their faces were only mere inches from each other. Pan quickly made her way off of Trunks and started to back away as Trunks got to his feet. Mikal on the other hand couldn't stop chuckling to himself at the entire scene.  
  
"What are you laughing at Mikal!?" shout Pan, her face a nice shade of pink  
  
"Oh nothing..." he giggled to himself  
  
(Cough) "Huh, well... You caught me, so... That's good." Said Trunks, fidgeting a little. "Well now that you've done that I guess you might be ready to fight some monsters right?" Trying to quickly change the subject and move on to something else. This of course got their attention and made them forget about what had just happened.  
  
"Monsters! What monsters!" hollered Mikal, who was obviously getting excited about the possibilities of facing some monsters.  
  
"I've programmed the computer to simulate almost any type of environment in here with a wide variety of opponents to face in order to test your skills."  
  
"Really?" asked Pan  
  
"Of course... Computer begin hologram training program number one for my two students only."  
  
"Training Program One initiated... Select environment..."  
  
"Select random landscape and weather settings."  
  
Acknowledging his last command the interior alloy walls of the room around him began to change shape and took form of a beach environment with tall palms trees and high crashing waves on the shoreline. There were signs of an approaching windstorm coming and in the skies above them, the clouds were moving rapidly and the sun was starting to be covered up.  
  
"Set Gravity level..."  
  
"Set gravity level times two." Trunks replied  
  
"Select opponents..."  
  
"Run all opponents at random except those from my personal file."  
  
"What's in your personal file?" asked Pan  
  
"Well I'd be more interested in that right about now if I were you." Trunks pointed over her shoulder  
  
As she turned she came face to face with a six-foot wolf creature carrying a huge double-bladed axe running at full tilt in her direction. Leaping into the air, the wolf came crashing down on Pan's position swinging his axe trying to chop her in half. Pan easily dodged this attack by sidestepping the attack and belting him in the kidneys, doubling him over. Upper cutting her opponent in the chin, he flew backwards almost ten feet.  
  
Mikal was also in a battle of his own, against a seven foot praying mantis creature with nun-chucks. Dodging each swing of the nun-chucks, he leapt in the air above the praying mantis's head and came down with both heels. Stomping the creature right between the eyes, knocking it unconscious and landing safely just two feet away from it. "Oi, Trunks. Where did you get these monsters from?" he asked  
  
"Manga comic books."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Hai, look out behind you." Trunks shouted  
  
Mikal turned and caught a left hook from an overgrown boar with boxing gloves, while Pan was now in combat with a twelve foot centipede with whip chains. This kind of training went on for the next three hours, Mikal and Pan were becoming exhausted and were getting slower and slower as they faced a new enemy, so Trunks decided to call it quits for the day and to allow them to rest.  
  
"So how was it?" he asked  
  
"Exhilarating, but I can't remember being so tired before." Mikal pointed out.  
  
"Same here, I'm worn-out." Said Pan  
  
"Okay, well the two of you should rest up for tomorrow."  
  
"Tomorrow?"  
  
"Hai, tomorrow I want to see how well you'll be able to channel your Ki in battle."  
  
"Like how?" asked Mikal  
  
"You'll see, but tomorrow. For now you two should go inside and shower up and get ready for Okaa-san's class."  
  
"Hai."  
-----  
As Pan and Mikal ran outside, the two women waited for them to enter the Gravity Room before they started talking again, just to make sure that they wouldn't be able to hear them.  
  
When the doors finally closed behind them Bulma was the first one to say something. "What's this picture of?" she asked  
  
"That's the picture I was talking to you about this morning, the one with Gohan and the girl." Said Chi-Chi "Read the back"  
  
"I love you Gohan, Videl." she said out loud. "Hmm, you know, now that I look at this picture she does look familiar. In fact I'm sure I've seen her before, she's the one that Gohan brought over that one time." Just then she snapped her fingers as if she realized something important. "I thought I've seen Pan-chan somewhere before!"  
  
"Huh!?" Chi-Chi was stunned "What do you mean Bulma?"  
  
"The first day I met her and Mikal-kun. I thought I saw her somewhere before, but I know that I've never met her before until that very moment. But I still couldn't shake the feeling, and I never forget a face. Look at the picture of Videl, doesn't she look exactly like Pan-chan." She gave the picture back to Chi-Chi  
  
"Oh Kami, she does look like her." Chi-Chi herself was surprised that she hadn't noticed the likeness before. "But what does this mean?"  
  
"Chi-Chi... Do you remember what Pan said about her mother."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Well, remember that she said her mother and father met when they were only teenagers. Pan said that her mother got pregnant and left because she didn't want to burden him with any more responsibilities than he already had."  
  
"Hai, did Pan-chan ever mention her name?"  
  
"I don't think so. The only thing else I can remember was that she said her mother would used to tell her stories about how strong her father was and that he would help make it a better place one day. Other than that, I don't think she said anything else about her mother."  
  
"Otou-san said that Pan-chan reminded him of Gohan in some ways... Do you think that Pan-chan is... I mean... Do you think it might be possible? That maybe Gohan was her... (Gulp) Father?" Chi-Chi cried, tears were running down her face now at the realization that Pan could be her grand daughter. That now she had a real family once again after all these years, that a part of her son still lived on, in Pan.  
  
"It could be... I'd have to do a blood test to be 100% sure but, when she comes out of the Gravity room with Trunks we should ask her some more questions." Tears were forming in her eyes as well, if this was true and Pan was Gohan's daughter, then her meeting Pan-chan was more than just a coincidence. It was fate.  
  
Hours had passed by and they were getting anxious about finding out if Pan could indeed be Gohan's daughter. It was almost mid afternoon when the door to the Gravity Room opened. Trunks, Mikal and Pan walked out, Trunks looked as if he wasn't tired at all, but Mikal and Pan on the other hand were breathing quite heavily and beads of sweat rolled down their faces.  
  
As the three of them entered the house, Mikal was the first to run up stairs to get into the shower. Trunks and Pan walked in together engaged in polite conversation.  
  
"Pan-chan, can we talk to you for a minute?" asked Chi-Chi  
  
"Hai." Pan walked over to the living room where Chi-Chi and Bulma was, and Trunks made his way to kitchen looking for some lunch.  
  
"It's probably better if you sit down." Said Bulma  
  
So did as she was asked, feeling concerned "What's wrong?"  
  
"Oh nothing is wrong, it's just that... Well... We wanted to ask you about your mother." Said Chi-Chi  
  
"My mother? Why?" inquired Pan  
  
"Well, Bulma and I were talking earlier and we couldn't remember if you mentioned her name before." Chi-Chi said, obviously nervous as she fidgeted with her hands  
  
"Her name? Oh I think I did, but why are you asking about this now?"  
  
"Please Pan-chan, can you tell us. It's very important to us." Said Bulma  
  
"Her name was Videl." There was a big reaction when she said her mother's name. Chi-Chi had tears building up in her eyes and Bulma looked as if she was about to cry as well. And she had no idea why. "What is it? Did I say something bad?"  
  
As Chi-Chi wiped away the tears from eyes, she handed Pan the picture. "Pan- chan, is this your mother?"  
  
Pan gasped as she stared at it, she couldn't believe her eyes, and there in the picture was her mother! And also in the picture was her father, they didn't look older than she was, in fact they looked to be a few years younger, and very much in love. "Where did you get this?" she demanded. A flood of emotions rushed through her mind; she didn't know what to do.  
  
"I got his picture from Gohan's room." Cried Chi-Chi  
  
"Gohan? Your son?"  
  
"Read the back." Said Bulma. As Pan turned the picture and read what was written on the back of it, a lump formed in her throat and she felt like her heart was going to break.  
  
"Grandma?"  
  
"Hai."  
  
"Grandma!!" bawled Pan as she ran over to Chi-Chi and threw her arms around her. The two of them, grandmother and granddaughter, held each other in their arms and cried their souls out. They were a family. Bulma sat on the side and watched them; she choked as the tears were rolling down her cheek.  
  
Just then Trunks ran out of the kitchen with a big bowl of rice and sushi in his hands, "What is it!? What's going on!?"  
  
Bulma stood up and walked over to her son and gave him a big Hug.  
  
"Okaa-san, what's the matter? Why are they crying?" he asked  
  
"Because... (sniffle, sniffle) Because they're a family Trunks, Pan is Gohan's daughter."  
  
"What?" he could barely get the word out of his mouth. The shock of what his mother said stunned him and he dropped his lunch on the floor. The bowl shattered and the rice spilled everywhere.  
  
"Chi-Chi is her grandmother Trunks. We just found out, isn't it beautiful, their together now and they'll never be alone again."  
  
"Gohan's daughter?" he said, still unable to believe it himself.  
  
"Hai, she is." All Trunks could do was look at Pan clutched to her newly found grandmother. He couldn't take his eyes off of her for a second. All this time Pan was Gohan's daughter, how could he possibly have missed it. 


	12. Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN  
  
Needless to say there was no class that day, the rest of the afternoon was spent in the living room chattering over the discovery of the year. Pan and Chi-Chi were sitting on the couch across from Mikal and Trunks. Everyone was stunned at the new development to say the least. Mikal was even a little jealous at Pan's good fortune. Pan was asking all of these questions about her Gohan and about her family history.  
  
As Chi-Chi and Trunks filled in the gaps about her heritage, about Gohan and Goku, Pan could only be amazed at the stories they told, and Mikal sometimes fantasize in the middle of one of their stories and imagine himself as a great hero, saving the world like Goku or Gohan used to do in the past. During this entire story telling however, Trunks never mentioned about himself traveling in to the past. That would have to be a story to be told at a later time, when things were right.  
  
During one of Chi-Chi's stories about Goku, Bulma emerged from the basement, "I got the test results finished." She delighted  
  
"And what do they say Bulma!" Chi-Chi hollered, her hopes held high  
  
"It's positive! Three quarters human and One quarter Saiya-jin!" she shouted jumping up and down like a little schoolgirl. Both Pan and Chi-Chi were overcome with glee as they too joined in the celebration jumping up and down.  
  
"Saiya-jin? What's a Saiya-jin?" Mikal inquired  
  
"Oh I forgot to explain that part." Said Chi-Chi  
  
"I can answer that." Said Trunks "The Saiya-jins were once a powerful alien race of mercenaries who would go out and conquer unsuspecting planets and then sell them for the highest bidder. However, they were destroyed long ago when the one they worked for destroyed their planet. His name was Freeza, the only ones to survive this destruction was Pan's grandfather, Goku. And my father Vegeta, he was once a prince among the Saiya-jin people. But he was killed after I was born by the Jinzouningen."  
  
"Really!? So you're saying that you're half alien?" Mikal exclaimed  
  
"Hai, and Pan is one-forth Saiya-jin." Chi-Chi iterated  
  
"So I'm actually part alien?" Pan asked  
  
"Hai, but it's nothing to be worried about. You're a good person and you're my granddaughter, you come from a line of honorable warriors. You should be very proud." Chi-Chi smiled  
  
"Hai I am." She gave her grandmother a big hug. "But Trunks said that these Saiya-jins were mercenaries. It sounded like they were evil."  
  
"They were, but Goku and Vegeta were different. Well Goku anyway, Vegeta could've been such a pain sometimes. But I knew that deep down inside of him, somewhere, he loved us... In his own unique way." Stated Bulma  
  
"Oh Bulma-san I didn't mean to insult you." Apologized Pan  
  
"No it's okay, you didn't. I knew what kind of a man he was and I accepted it. For the short time we were together, he made me very happy. Even though I never told him, I think he knew." Spoke Bulma  
----  
Back behind the water tower just outside of New Capitol City, Guy and his gang were getting ready for tonight.  
  
Guy was making his speech to the rest of his gang. "All right you people listen up! We know exactly where they live now, so that means that tonight, after they go to bed, we'll break into their house and steal everything we can find. First we pump this sleeping gas into their bedrooms just to make sure they won't wake up unexpectedly and decide to bust us and call the police or anything. And then we'll snag Mikal and his little girlfriend Pan while they're still passed out, bring them back out here, tie them up to a tree or something and then pound the living crap out of them. What do you say guys!?"  
  
"YEAH!!" they yelled together  
  
"Let's make them pay!" shouted Toji  
  
"You got that right! We'll make them pay good!!" yelled Shindo  
  
Meanwhile back at the Capsule Corp House...  
  
"Ano... So what are you going to do now Pan?" asked Trunks  
  
"We were talking about it earlier and... I'm going to be moving in with Chi- Chi san." Said Pan  
  
"That's great!" said Bulma  
  
"I'm giving her Gohan's old room. I don't think he would mind." Chi-Chi smiled  
  
"That's good Pan, when?" asked Mikal  
  
"Tonight."  
  
"Tonight?" uttered Trunks  
  
"Hai, I mean why wait." She said  
  
"It makes sense." Said Mikal nodding his head  
  
A couple of more hours passed by and it was starting to get dark. "Oh I think we should get going Pan-chan, the sun is going down." Said Chi-Chi  
  
"Hai. I'll go upstairs and pack my things." Pan ran upstairs to the guest room she was staying in. Bulma had given her an old suitcase earlier during the day and said that she could keep it. She was so excited and happy she could hardly contain herself, it was very difficult for her to remember the last time she felt this way about anything.  
  
As she was finished up her packing the suitcase, she stood in the room for a minute looking around the room. Bulma had been so generous to her that she was feeling somewhat guilty leaving. Just then there a small knock at her door.  
  
"Hi, can I come in?" asked Trunks  
  
"Hi Trunks, of course you can."  
  
"I just wanted to see if you needed help or anything?"  
  
"No not really. Just feeling a little, I don't know actually... I guess I'm a little nervous about moving in with Chi-Chi. I'm excited too, but I... I don't know, I guess I just don't want to disappoint her." Said Pan  
  
"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. You're her granddaughter, I haven't seen her this happy in many, many years." Replied Trunks trying to ease her tension  
  
"Thank you Trunks."  
  
"Here let me get that for you, I'll be driving the two of you back home tonight."  
  
"Arigato." She smiled at him. There was a strange feeling between the two of them that neither one could readily identify.  
  
Trunks escorted Pan back downstairs with her suitcase in his hand; Chi-Chi and Bulma were still sitting in the living room chatting away, with Mikal sitting on the sidelines listening in.  
  
"Pan-chan are you ready to go?" asked Chi-Chi eagerly  
  
"Hai!" shouted Pan with enthusiasm  
  
They all walked outside and Trunks took out a small capsule container from his pocket and removed the one marked Number One. He clicked the top button and "POOF" the silver air car transformed into existence. As Trunks was putting the suitcase into the trunks Pan and Chi-Chi were giving their final farewells to Bulma and Mikal. Giving them big hugs and stuff, a few tears were shown, even Mikal was trying to hold back some.  
  
As Pan and Chi-Chi climbed into the backseats of the car, Trunks ran back inside and grabbed a blue-gray, hooded sweatshirt with the Capsule Corp logo on the back, and slid it on. As he walked back out he gave his mother a quick hug and sat in the driver seat. Tapping all the controls the air car warmed up it's engines and slowly rose into the air, with some last waves between the occupants in the air car and the people on the ground, the car took off towards Pan's new home.  
  
It didn't take to long for them to reach their destination, as the air car hovered over the front yard and slowly settled on the ground, the Ox-King came out of the house with a great big smile.  
  
"Oi, Chi-Chi I was wondering when you were coming back, it's already night time." Said the Ox-King  
  
"Otou-san I want you to meet someone." Said Chi-Chi  
  
"Ano, who?"  
  
"I want you to meet Pan."  
  
A look of sheer puzzlement crossed over his face as Pan popped out of the car and stood next to Chi-Chi and was wondering if she had hit her head earlier that day. "Ano, but Chi-Chi we've already met, remember?"  
  
"Well, yes you've met Pan-chan before as a guest, but now I want to you meet her as you great granddaughter."  
  
"Nani? Great... Granddaughter? Chi-Chi what are you talking about? Did you hit your head today or something?"  
  
"No I didn't, Otou-san Pan-chan is Gohan's daughter. We found out today, she's going to be living with us from now on!" Chi-Chi stated with happiness  
  
"Gohan's daughter..." He couldn't believe it "Gohan's daughter! HAHA! I knew it I knew it! I thought you looked like Gohan! Come here!" He shouted, jumping up and down and picked Pan up like she was nothing gave her the biggest hug in her life.  
  
Trunks was standing in the background watching the entire scene play out with a smile on his face. [It's good to a family re-united.] He thought to himself. He watched as the Ox-King forgot his own strength and nearly squeezed out of his newly founded great granddaughter and put her gingerly back on the ground. He tapped a button on the side of the air car and it was reformed back into a capsule. Putting the capsule back into the container and made his way to the Son family.  
  
"Hello." Said Trunks  
  
"Trunks it's good to see you too!" Said the Ox-King  
  
"Trunks are you going to stay the night? Why did you re-capsule the air car?" asked Chi-Chi  
  
"I thought it would be a nice reunion present for you." Replied trunks with a small smile forming at the corner of his mouth  
  
"Reunion present?"  
  
"Hai." And gave the entire capsule container, holding six capsules, over to Chi-Chi.  
  
"Oh Trunks we can't take these." She started to protest as his hand came up as if to say to wave it off.  
  
"Please take them, we have a lot of these. Besides I'm sure Okaa-san wouldn't mind."  
  
"Arigato Trunks." Said Chi-Chi as she gave him a kiss on the cheek, blushing slightly Trunks waved to the family and flew into the air and headed back home.  
  
Ox-King carried her suitcase into the house as Chi-Chi led Pan into her new room. Opening the door Pan could tell that though it was completely clean and tidy, the room hasn't been used in many years.  
  
"This is Gohan's old room." Said Chi-Chi  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Hai. He was such a good little boy." Chi-Chi was saying as Pan started to walk around her new room. Gazing at all the pictures of Chi-Chi in her younger years with her husband and child. [They looked so happy together.] She thought. As she strolled from one picture to another, it was as if the little boy in the picture was growing up before her eyes. She gazed at the desk and bookshelf by the window; there were so many books on it. And on so many different subjects too.  
  
"Gohan was always a very smart little boy. He was years ahead of his grade class." Chi-Chi smiled proudly  
  
"Can you tell me more about my father grandma, I'd like to know."  
  
"Of course I can, here let me show you something." She said as she went into the closet and pulled out a picture book. The same picture book she looked at a few days ago before she discovered she had a granddaughter. The two of them sat on the bed and started flipping through the pages as Chi- Chi regaled her with stories.  
----  
Trunks on the other hand was making his landing in front of his house just as Guy and the rest of his gang were sneaking onto the property through the trees in the back yard of the Capsule Corp house.  
  
"Oi, Guy are you sure this is the house?" inquired Kendo "I don't see that silver car here."  
  
"Shut up Baka! Do you want them to hear you!" Said Guy sternly in a whisper tone  
  
"Look, there's that guy that was with Mikal the other day." said Toji, pointing over to the front driveway. "Where did he come from, it's like he just popped out of nowhere?"  
  
"Who cares where he came from, it proves that this is the right house. Look he's going inside." Said Shinji  
  
"Can he see us?" asked Lee  
  
"Baka yaro, it's night and we're in the trees, of course he can't see us." Said Tara, she was starting to get irritated at all the questioning much like Guy was getting. They watched as he entered his house, as he closed the door behind him they turned to each other and started to go over the details of their plan.  
  
Guy started it off making sure everyone was on the same page. "Okay, we wait here out of sight until all their lights go out. When that happens we'll stay here for another twenty minutes just to make sure they are all asleep. Now Tara and Kendo, you take the sleeping gas around back and release the gas into the house."  
  
"How?" asked Kendo  
  
[Baka!] he thought to himself. "You take the tube and slide under the crack in the back door in the kitchen."  
  
"Oh, no problem boss."  
  
"Now we let the gas seep into the house for ten minutes, then when they're completely knocked out, we shimmy the door open with our tools," a maniacal grin as everyone lifted up their "tool" as they were. Which nothing more than some crowbars and some hammers. "Then we steals everything we can in the house, drag those two little bakas out of their beds and take them for a little joy ride outside of town and tie them to a couple of trees and play a couple of rounds of tag while they're still knocked out. How does that sound to everyone?"  
  
"Yeah sounds great boss." Iterated Shinji. However during all of this planning, no one ever thought about the possibilities of the house possibly having a security system or that once the gas fills the house, how were they supposed to walk around the place with no masks and not be affected by the sleeping gas themselves. Not a very intelligent group of thugs.  
  
Two hours passed by as the little band of thieves waited and shivered in the dark, damp woods behind the house. What made it even worse was the fact that could smell the odors of cooking food as dinner was served. Stomachs from all six of them grumbled in protest of their predicament. Another two hours went by before the lights of the house finally went out, indicating that they were going to bed.  
  
"Finally, you'd think that these people would stay up forever." Tara commented  
  
"Well, at least their finally going to bed now, good things I don't know how much longer I can stay out here like this." Lee mumbled  
  
"Stop complaining, just remember in another twenty minutes we start our plan." Said Guy  
  
"Why not now?" Lee asked  
  
"Because if they're not asleep by now, they might here us outside their house and call the police baka!" snapped Guy in a low muffled tone  
  
"Oh."  
  
However in side the house, no one actually went to bed. Not yet anyway, they were all making their way to the basement if the house where all of Bulma's computers, equipments, blueprints, contracts, and business deals were at.  
  
"It was a good job you two did with the mayor the other day Trunks." Bulma smiled  
  
"You could've just told me that all we had to do was to get the contracts signed instead of making us stay up all night reading over all of those documents that we didn't need to read." Complained Trunks  
  
"What fun would that be?" she giggled "Besides I want to show you two something that would be good for the hospital."  
  
"Like what Okaa-san, I thought everything they needed was in the contract?" asked Trunks  
  
"Oh it is, but I wanted to show you what really made it special." Bulma said as she lead the two young men through the main laboratory and computer room of the basement, to a sliding door in the back of the room.  
  
"What's behind here?" asked Mikal  
  
"It's a storage room." Said Trunks "It's where we place a lot of equipment and devices we no longer use."  
  
"Oh, anything cool?"  
  
"Some, but just try not to touch anything, most of it is very sensitive, and they haven't been used in years."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Bulma touched a couple of tabs on the touch pad at the side of the door and it slid open with narrow a sound and the light slowly illuminated the entire complex. As Mikal looked around he was astonished to see the immense size of the room. It was gigantic, almost the size of the main house itself. His gaze went from one end to the other, up and down. Most of the room was nothing more than empty space. [Weird, why would they have a room with nothing in it especially if it's this big?] he thought to himself. As he looked up towards the ceiling he could make out some funny looking lines that for some reason made him think were extremely large circular doors or lids. Why would anyone want to have a door on the ceiling he would never know. But this also gave the impression that they were much deeper underground that he thought.  
  
Bulma walked to the left side of the room where there were some large shelves and some rather large objects covered in blankets. She stopped in front of one that was a strange oval shape with a flat base to it, from what Mikal could tell anyway. Seizing the blanket that covered it she pulled it off slowly. Dust releasing into the air as she coughed and waved her hands in front of her as if to shoo the dust away.  
  
"I can't believe I almost forgot about this." Said Trunks in astonishment  
  
"Hai, it was a long time ago the last it was used." Replied Bulma  
  
As Mikal looked at it, it indeed was oval shaped and had a flat base to it. But now that the covers were off and he had a better look at it, it looked bigger than he originally thought. There was a large egg shaped dome in the front of the machine, it looked thick and clear. There also seemed to be a rather large control panel on the side with a lot of buttons and lights that were currently turned off. In the middle of the dome, he could make out that it was empty on the inside and there seemed to be a kind a oxygen mask hanging from the top of the chamber.  
  
"What is that?" he asked  
  
"It's called a regeneration tank, it uses bio-organic chemicals and synthetic DNA in order to heal almost any wound or injury someone might sustain. It took me years to build this one; the last time it was used was when Trunks was injured when he was seventeen. And now with the new deal with North Pepper Town for the new hospital, it can be put to good use again. The only problem is that it was made specifically for Saiya-jin physiology, so I'm going to have to find a way to convert it for Human physiology as well."  
  
"Really? I don't remember ever being in there."  
  
"Hmm, I guess that's understandable, you're only half Saiya-jin after all. You collapsed on the floor and fainted after the tank had healed most of your wounds. You were out for nearly five days."  
  
"Oh, now I remember. I woke up and you were sitting next to my bed."  
  
"Hai." She smiled  
  
"But there's only one." Mikal pointed out, feeling a little retarded for asking it the second he realized he said it, and he slapped himself on the head for it.  
  
Laughing Bulma answered anyway, "I know, that's why after I figure out how to convert it to make it more "Human Friendly", I'm going to start mass producing them so everyone can use them."  
  
"Hai." Was all he could muster to say. 


	13. Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE  
  
As the three spent the next twenty minutes in the basement going over the regeneration tank, Guy and his little band of misfits slowly crept their way to the back entrance of the house. Just as they planned, Tara and Kendo snuck around the back of the house first with the sleeping gas. As the started pumping the gas into the house, the others made their way to the back. The hiss of the gas, as it was being pumped into the house, wasn't the catalyst that set off the silent alarm. It was in fact the outside motion sensors that tripped the alarm.  
  
In the laboratory red lights started blinking on and off. "What's that!?" shout Mikal  
  
"It's the silent alarm, someone's outside trying to break in." bellowed Trunks  
  
Bulma made her way to the computer and tapped a few buttons, within seconds there was an image of the wanna-be thugs on the screen from the motion sensors. Six of them in all, crouching together and they were holding something next to the back door.  
  
"What is that thing? Who are they?" asked Trunks  
  
"I don't know." Answered Bulma "But if I'm right, that looks like a tank."  
  
"A tank! Okaa-san, zoom in on it and let's see if there's any writing on the tank." Said Trunks. Bulma tapped the commands in the computer and the image of the thugs zoomed in and the tank, the pixels on the screen digitalized and enhanced and there became a clear picture of the writing on the tank. "Sleeping gas? You can't be serious."  
  
Just then Mikal eyes widen to the size of soft balls and a stern, angry scowl came across his face as he finally recognized the people on the computer screen. Trunks sensing his anger turned to face him.  
  
"What is it?" he asked  
  
"That's... That's Guy! Kuso!" cursed Mikal  
  
"Guy? Who is that?"  
  
"Guy... Isn't that your brother Mikal?" Bulma asked  
  
"Hai, I don't know how he knew where I was or why he came here, but it's clear that he's up to no good, and he intends to break in the house!"  
  
Trunks and Bulma returned their gaze to the computer screen. "That does it, Oi Mikal let's say you and go stop them." Declared Trunks  
  
"Hai!" agreed Mikal  
  
As Mikal and Trunks were making their way up the stairs, Bulma had a thought flash though her brain. "Oi, wait a minute."  
  
The other two stopped in the tracks and turned to look at Bulma. "What is it?" said Mikal  
  
A sly grin appeared on her face and she casually leaned back in her chair. "Let them finish what they're doing. If I'm right about this, it's going to be a real entertaining attempt at a break in."  
  
"Huh, Okaa-san what are you talking about? They are breaking in, they're pumping gas into the house trying to knock us all out and then steal everything in the house." Protested Trunks  
  
"I'm not worried. First off, the lab is completely sealed. Gas is not going to seep in here, and besides, did either of you two see any gas masks with them?"  
  
Mikal and Trunks looked at each other in puzzled expressions  
  
"Uh, no." replied Mikal  
  
"Exactly, just sit down, relax and watch what happens. I got a feeling that these aren't the smartest bunch you'll come across." She laughed  
----  
"That's it, it's been ten minutes. They should all be completely knocked out into comas by now." Said Kendo  
  
"Yeah really, there's no way they're going to wake up from this." Lee pointed out  
  
"Okay gang, you're doing good, now since they're all under the influence let's make ourselves at home." Said Guy. Taking his crowbar to the latch on the door, Tara and Kendo joined in with their own. "On three... One... Two... Three!" Prying the door open together, it popped off the hinges and crashed on the floor.  
  
"Okay people, trick or treat time. Go wild and take what you want." He ordered. As they rushed in they were in awe of the size of the house.  
  
"Wow, I wonder exactly what Mikal is doing for the old lady to let him stay here?" Toji wondered  
  
"Who cares, I'm going to get the silver (yawn) wear," replied Shinji rubbing his eyes  
  
"Go ahead, I'm going (yawn) for the (yawn) big screen TV." Toji answered back  
  
Meanwhile Kendo, Lee and Tara were making their through the dining room. "Hey check out that (yawn) Chandelier." Uttered Lee  
  
"Wow that looks nice (yawn)." Replied Tara  
  
"How are we (yawn) going to get (yawn) that down?" asked Kendo with another yawn  
  
Guy making his way past everyone up the stairs, "Why is everyone (yawn) yawning?" Then with a brilliant flash, "Oh crap (yawn). Everyone get (yawn) out (yawn)..." he didn't even get to finish his sentence as he collapsed on the stairs due to the gas. Along with everyone else falling over and going sleep in the middle of the robbery, they were quickly snoring as the gas put them all to sleep faster than a speeding bullet.  
  
From the laboratory in the basement, "See, what did I tell you two! Was that funny or what?" Bulma said to herself quite proudly  
  
"Wow, You would think they would smarter than that. How dumb could they get?" said Trunks  
  
Mikal still fuming over the incident, "I don't care how dumb they are, they don't have the right to do this! They should just all go to jail!"  
  
Shocked at the statement Mikal said over his own brother, Bulma turned in her chair in his direction. "Mikal you can't mean that, he's your brother."  
  
"I don't care, he doesn't have the right to do this."  
  
"Mikal, I'm sure there's a way we can solve this without sending him to jail. I mean, it's not like they actually stole anything, they all fell asleep."  
  
"So?"  
  
"So... I have an idea." She smiled  
  
Three hours later, as the gas wore off, Guy and the rest of his gang slowly started to come out it. Groggy and disoriented, they had no idea where they were. Their eyelids heavy, they slowly opened their eyes to a disturbing scene. Not only were they all tied together in the middle of the living room, they surrounded by police!  
  
"Rise and shine sleepy heads." Bulma sparkled  
  
"Nani!? What's going on here!?" demanded Guy  
  
"What's going on here punk is that Miss Bulma Briefs, her son and her guest caught you thugs breaking into her house! That's what's going on!" shouted the police chief.  
  
He was a tall, broad man, with a thick mustache and big, dark eyes. His police troops were standing around the robbers dressed in their new police armor, supplied to them by Capsule Corp. Black body armor with blue shoulder straps and abdominal plating. They were twirling their batons around and snickering to themselves at the stupidity of the break in attempt. "Lucky for them they were downstairs and saw everything on the security monitors from safety! Oh yeah and we've confiscated your gas tank and your bikes you stashed down the street, it took us a little but we found them!"  
  
"Oh really?" bellowed Guy in defiance  
  
"Really! I mean can the lot of you be any stupider or what I'll never know." That last comment brought about some healthy laughter from the police officers in the room.  
  
As Guy looked at his surrounding, he could see his little brother Mikal in the corner of his eyes, looking rather heated.  
  
"Oh great, you're here too then?"  
  
"Yeah I'm here baka!" barked Mikal, which brought about another round of laughter from the police troops.  
  
"Mikal, no need to get hostile." Said Bulma trying to calm him down.  
  
"Lucky for you guys miss Bulma here wants to make a deal with you here." Stated the chief  
  
"What kind of a deal?" Guy muttered  
  
"Well, it's pretty simple actually, so you can either take it or leave it. If you leave it, then I'll press charges and have the lot of you thrown in jail for the twenty years of your lives. And with my connections, believe me, I can do it with no problem." Shined Bulma  
  
That statement brought a series of groans, moans, and chatter among the would be robbers. "Well, spit it out, what kind of a deal is it?" asked Guy, a little less combative this time.  
  
"Simple, all of you have to agree to work for me."  
  
"Nani!?" they gasped in unison  
  
"Nanda? Okaa-san you can't be serious, they tried to rob us and you want to give them jobs?" Disputed Trunks  
  
"Well it's a lot better than having them put in jail for the rest of their lives for a botched up break in, and it's also better then to just simply throw them back out into the streets. What good will that do? If they go back on the streets, they'll just keep breaking the law and rob people. At least this way they can make a contribution." Stated Bulma  
  
Mikal on the other hand couldn't believe what Bulma was suggesting. At least he wasn't the only one that felt this way, Trunks felt the same way as well. Trunks and Bulma argued back and forth for a few minutes, Bulma of course wasn't losing her cool, but Trunks on the other hand looked as if he was about to pull his hair out. In the end however, Bulma had the upper hand and won the argument.  
  
"So, what do you say? Do you take it or leave it?" she asked  
  
"What's the catch?" Guy inquired  
  
"The catch is this, the entire lot of you will be under probation just to make sure you're not doing anything on the side trying to get around the system or anything else illegal. Because if you're caught, then it's off to jail you go. So it would be in your best interest to behave yourselves while you're in my employment."  
  
"And how exactly are we supposed to work? Where are we supposed to live in the meantime huh?"  
  
"Also simple. You five..." pointing at the others in bondage, "Are going to be working at one of my factories downtown. They have many apprenticeship programs there that I'm sure all of you will find interesting. Plus I'll make arrangements with one of the local apartment complexes close to the factory and make a deal with them to let all of you stay there. But remember you are all on probation, so if you step out of line, then you'll be in trouble. So what do you say?" asking the other five of the gang.  
  
They looked at each other mumbling the comments to each other, then finally it was Tara who spoke up for the group. "Hai we accept, it's better than prison. At least we'll have a clean place to live in for once."  
  
"Excellent!" she hollered  
  
"Uh, excuse me, that's nice for them, but what about me huh? What am I supposed to do?" Guy snapped  
  
"Well, you'll be staying here with me, and you'll be going to classes with your brother that I'll be teaching first thing in the morning." She said  
  
"Here!? Bulma-san you can't trust him!" Mikal shouted  
  
"It's okay Mikal-kun. Besides I trust you and you're a good boy, Guy is your brother so there must be a part you in him too. Right?" she smiled  
  
"Bulma..." he was cut off as she waved her hand  
  
"Trust me, everything is okay." She reassured him. "So what's your answer Guy, yes or no?"  
  
After a few moments of unpleasant grumbling and moaning, Guy finally relented. After going over every possible scenario in his head, "Okay, you got yourself a deal." He hissed.  
  
"Good!" She chirped  
  
Mikal and Trunks on the other hand were not happy with the situation, especially Mikal. He knew what his brother was capable and now he would be keeping a very close eye him, he decided. The police officers untied the detainees and escorted the other five to their squad cars to de taken to their respective new residents. The police chief threw Guy a harsh glare as he went past him and finally walked outside to brief his troops.  
  
"Now with all of this settled let me take you to your room." She told him as she lead upstairs to an empty guest room. Trunks and Mikal followed close by, just to make sure that he wouldn't try anything funny. As she showed Guy the room, Trunks stood across the hall, arms folded across his chest, his head down and scowling. Just like his father used to do. Mikal was standing in the doorway, never taking his off of Guy. Bulma seemed to be at ease with the whole situation. As Bulma finished her little tour, she left Guy to his new surroundings and headed towards her own room passing by Mikal and Trunks on the way.  
  
[Trunks looks just like Vegeta sometimes.] Bulma thought to herself bringing a slight smile to her mouth, and mixed emotions along with it.  
  
"So little Bro, what have you been up to lately?" Guy remarked sarcastically  
  
"What is it to you!?" Mikal snapped at him  
  
"Just wondering what you've been giving the old lady? I mean after all, you must be giving her something good if she's letting you stay here huh?" Guy laughed  
  
Before Mikal could even react to his brother lewd comment, there was a great rush of air that blew past him, as Trunks suddenly appeared from no where, clutching Guy's throat in his hand and lifted him into the air.  
  
His eyes closed and never looking up at him as he squeezed his throat tighter and tighter, the color in Guy's face turning red as he choked on his own spit. Guy was lashing out arms desperately at his assailant's arms, punching and hitting him to make him loosen his grip and drop him, but to no avail, he didn't even budge.  
  
"Now you listen to me baka." Trunks stated in a rather soft and even tone. "Okaa-san may tolerate you being here, and she may even think that it's a good idea for you to change your life around or something. But I don't care, while you are here, you WILL behave yourself and you WILL respect her. If you ever say anything disrespectful about Okaa-san again, I will not hesitate to throw you through the wall and make an example of you. Do you understand me?"  
  
Guy unable to answer merely gurgled his response that sounded, to Mikal's ears, as an incoherent response. However Trunks must have heard him much better because he immediately dropped Guy, from what must have been a very frightening experience, flat on his ass. Rolling over on his side and curling up in a fetul position gasping for dear life, trying to get as much oxygen into his lungs as he could. Trunks merely turned around and walked out of the room. Mikal watched, what he considered as a very funny scene, a for a few more minutes as the color slowly came back into his face and left for his own room chuckling to himself as he left his brother to his own shame.  
  
[Kuso! I'll get that bastard if it's the last thing I do!!] Guy thought to himself as he coughed up some spit on the carpet. 


	14. Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN  
  
Over the next several weeks, Guy tried on countless occasions to try to get his revenge on Trunks for what he did to him, only to receive even more embarrassment at his hands every time he failed. Finally Guy pretty much put his revenge aside, seeing that it would be worthless to pursue it. He became almost intolerable for Trunks and Mikal to stand him as time went by, Bulma on the other hand saw it as a rewarding challenge. He joined in the morning classes along with his little brother and Pan, as he agreed. However, he never took it quite seriously, he would looked bored and doodle in his textbooks Bulma gave him.  
  
Although, he would become more and more interested in what he witnessed after his classes. Usually, after the classes he would go to his room and watch TV, but then one day he heard some sounds outside his window. When he looked out, he saw Trunks, Mikal and Pan floating above the ground. He was astounded by what his eyes had seen. He would look as his brother and Pan would fly in the air in the back yard, or glow with some sort of energy around them, or even disappear right in front of his eyes. Sometimes he noticed that they would train inside that big dome structure in the backyard and come out looking absolutely exhausted and sweating, barely able to stand let alone walk. We wondered and speculated for weeks what they were doing in there.  
  
He asked Bulma one day after the daily classes were over and Pan and Mikal joined Trunks in the Dome building. She smiled and told him that it was an advanced Gravity Chamber where Trunks would teach the other how to fly and to use their newly found powers. As she went into more detail, Guy's eyes widen and became mesmerized. Seeing his deep curiosity and interest in this she had asked Guy if he wanted Trunks to teach him the same thing as he was teaching the other. That brought about a puff of irritation, however, knowing his little brother was becoming stronger and faster than he was irritated him even more. Finally he told her that he would want to learn how to do all of those amazing things he witnessed from his window. So Bulma made him another deal, if he agreed to take his classes more seriously and try to learn the material she was teaching him, then she would talk to Trunks and he if he would agree to train Guy.  
  
It took longer than either one of them thought but eventually, after about a month, his grades got better and actually found that what he was learning from Bulma interesting. For the first time in his life he was actually enjoying something besides pushing and bullying people around. His attitude was changing and he became more tolerable for Mikal and Trunks's liking, Pan still couldn't care less about him however. But, as she agreed, Bulma went and talked to Trunks, he was hesitant at first but after what his mother had told him about his grades getting better and his interest peeking in new subjects, Trunks agreed.  
----  
Six months later...  
  
Sparks flying and the sounds of parts being welded together, the main computer in the Artic Laboratory was humming and beeping with analytical data. Then, the sparks stopped flying, and the welding ceased to be. Giant mechanical arms withdrew themselves from the giant table and disappeared in the walls of the lab. In the center of the table lay an immense, unholy creature. Suddenly it's eyes opened and blazed silver, the lights of the main computer reflected in them. As it sat up, it's black-chromed body shimmered in faint glow of the lab, and it's long, dark purple hair tied in a ponytail. Extremely muscular physique, an earring dangled from each ear, it slowly held up it's leather gloved hands and looked deep into the red, jeweled modules in the center of it's palms. Swiveling it's position to the side of the table, it jumped off and landed heavily on the metal floor, cracking it as it did so. It's large, heavy, black combat boots and green, military style cargo pants just made this creature even more perilous looking. It tilted it's head upwards towards as the ceiling began to open on a dark, cold, artic night. The blizzard blew vast amounts of snow into the lab as Nijunigou slowly levitated into the vast expanse. Coming to slow halt a hundred feet above it's birth place, it scanned the horizon around it, with only one thing on it's mind.  
  
"Trunks..." it spoke in a harsh, cold tone. No emotion in it's eyes what so ever. It was designed for one purpose and one purpose only. To find it's target and eliminate it along with any other threats that may cross it. Finally, it set it's sights on a large population of human life signs in hopes to flush out it's target to a life or death battle.  
  
"Life signs, humans... Population, fifteen thousand..." As it settled on the precise location of the human life signs, it blasted of due South West it a brilliant flash of white light and left a trail of blue-white energy in it's wake.  
----  
Flying across the open ocean, waves of blue, sparkling water rushed beneath them as Bulma, Chi-Chi and the Ox King, speed along at a comfortable speed in a newly re-designed hover-copter. The hover-copter was actually quite large on the inside, with plenty of leg and headroom for everyone to be happy with, even for Ox King. This new design has no need of rotating propeller blades on top of the craft as all other helicopters did. It still has the same resemblance of the earlier designs, however in place of the blades, there is a state of the art hover disc on top. Blue-Green in color, it also carries two small jet propulsion engines for great boosts of speed, in the back, near the rear tail fin. Decaled on the side of the hover- copter was it's designation as Capsule Corp 671. in bright yellow and orange letters. Piloted by Bulma, the hover-copter was heading towards a little island in the middle of the ocean, which was just big enough to have a single house and a few palms trees on it.  
  
"It's going to be great seeing my old master again. It's been ages, I wonder what he's been up to all of these years?" Ox King said to himself  
  
"Probably being the same old pervert he was before. Gawking at porno magazines is my guess." Chi-Chi stated  
  
"It's been over twenty years since we last saw him, I wonder if he's still even alive." Said Bulma  
  
"Hmph, that old fart? He'll be alive as long as he still has his porn supply. I have a feeling he's going to be alive for a long time." Replied Chi-Chi  
  
"You're probably right. How old is he anyway?" asked Bulma  
  
"I wouldn't even want to guess." Chi-Chi answered "I have to admit though, I am glad we're going to see him after all of these years, but I have to ask why?"  
  
"I want to surprise Trunks. It's his birthday today and I would like everyone there tonight. I have Pan and the others going to invite Lunch and Kyushinhan for the party tonight and as far as Trunks knows, nothing is out of the ordinary."  
  
"How's that possible?"  
  
"Trunks trains in the Gravity room every morning until mid-afternoon, and is pretty much oblivious to the outside world until he exits the chamber. Just like his father was. He told me a week ago that he doesn't want any special party for him just because it's his birthday and as far as he knows everyone is going about their usual routines. I made sure that Pan, Mikal and Guy were making it look like they were studying this morning until Trunks started his training and then I told them to rush over to Lunch's house to invite over for tonight." Bulma explained.  
  
"Oh I see."  
  
"Ever since Gohan died, Trunks has never wanted to celebrate anything, he said it was to painful without him being around." A flash of memory ran through her mind. "Oh gomen nasai, Chi-Chi. I didn't ..."  
  
Chi-Chi smiled and patted her long time friend on her shoulder. "It's okay Bulma. It's okay. I know that Gohan being dead was hard for me and I couldn't let him go. It was even harder for me to even talk about my boy without coming to tears, but ever since Pan moved in, it's like a giant weight has been lifted off my heart."  
  
"I'm relieved, it's good to see you happy again."  
  
"Hai, I am." She smiled immensely  
  
"Oh look there it is." Ox King interrupted from the back seat and pointed to the little dot on the horizon where the island was.  
  
As the island grew larger as they approached it, the house didn't look any different than from the last time they saw it. It was still a single building house, with red roof singles and a slight pinkish hue to the siding, with "KAME HOUSE" painted in big bold red letter right in front of the house over the door. There was just enough land in front of the house for them to make a gentle landing, as they were lowering onto the island, a tiny, old, bald headed man, wearing sunglasses, exited the front door and stood there watching the three of them descend on his little island while two small creatures made their way past him and headed towards the hover- copter.  
----  
"One, two, three, four and one, two, three, four..." came the voice from the TV aerobics instructor, dressed in the latest skin tight, spandex, two- piece leotard as she jumped up and down, stretching left to right. All the while the old, bald headed man known as Kamesennin Muten Roshi, stared and drooled at the screen as he followed along with the instructions being spoken by the TV screen. Standing beside him was a little pig named Oolong who was grinning the biggest grin a creature of his size could grin, showing all of his teeth and drooling along side the old man.  
  
Meanwhile Puar, a mystical cat-like creature, floated in with sandwich on a plate and sighed as he witnessed the scene in front of him. "Honestly must the two of you always drool when you watch this show." said Puar in a high- pitched child like voice.  
  
"Hey don't knock it until you've tried it Puar." Replied Oolong  
  
"Master Roshi, you should be ashamed of yourself, a man of your age shouldn't be acting like a teenager just because you see some pretty girls on the TV screen."  
  
"Now don't be so brash Puar. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging beauty when you see it. Hehehe!" Roshi laughed. Just then he felt something in the air and stopped gawking at the TV. Oolong, oblivious to this, kept drooling. Puar on the other hand did notice Master Roshi's new state of being and became nervous. He hasn't acted like this in many, many years.  
  
"What is it Master Roshi? Is something coming?" asked Puar. That caught Oolong's attention and he turned and looked at the old man, who was himself, staring out the screen door of the house.  
  
"Hai, there is..." it was he said at first. But then as a smile started to form across his mouth, he replied. "But there's nothing to worry about, it looks like we're just going to have a couple of old friends drop by for a little while. Hehehe!"  
  
"Really?!" Shouted Puar  
  
"Yup, in fact they should be landing in a couple of seconds." He said as he grabbed his cane and walked to the door. Followed by Oolong, Puar put his sandwich down on the coffee table and joined the other two just in time to see a large blue-green craft come into view and start it's descent onto the island. Peering at the windows, they saw Bulma, Chi-Chi and Ox King peering back and waving happily.  
  
The rush of excitement was too much for the two smaller creatures as they bolted out the front door and made their way to the hover-copter. Master Roshi on the other walked out of his house and slowly made his way to the rest of them.  
  
"BULMA!!" Cried out Puar as he flung himself around Bulma's neck crying and laughing at the same time.  
  
"Puar it's been so long! It's good to see you!" she shouted. Chi-Chi and Ox King greeted oolong, as Master Roshi finally made it to the group, wearing a yellow aloha shirt and shorts, the sun beaming off of his head.  
  
"So pretty lady, where have you been all this time! HAHAHAHAHA!!!" He directed at Bulma  
  
"You haven't changed at all have you?" she smirked  
  
"Nope not really? Hehehe!"  
  
"Master it is good to see you again." Ox King said as he ran to stand beside him.  
  
"Ox, old boy, how have you been all these years?"  
  
"Pretty good master, especially recently."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Hai, but there'll be plenty of time for that later." Said Chi-Chi  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Of course, because we want the three of you to come back with us." Said Bulma  
  
"Back with you? Really?" asked Oolong.  
  
"Hai, it's Trunks's birthday today and we're having a party for him tonight and we want all you there with us. It's been so long since we've all gotten together for something, and we thought that tonight would be just as good a night as any." She replied  
  
"Trunks! Why I haven't seen that little nipper since he was first born! How is he?" asked Roshi  
  
"He's been doing real well, he's been training real hard lately and he's also been taking more responsibilities with the Company."  
  
"Training huh?" Master Roshi dove into deep thought for a second. [Hmm, there have been several strong powers I've felt recently. One of them is obviously Trunks, although I have no idea as to whom or what the other ones are. There hasn't been any destruction across the planet so I'm hoping that they are all good. I'm certainly in no condition to battle them... I wonder...] "Well that's good to hear, the boy has been keeping up his exercises and staying in shape. Hehe! So if it's the boy's birthday then I guess we should get going. I would like to see how the young man has turned out."  
----  
"Kyushinhan!.. Kyushinhan!.. Where is that boy?" wondered the blond haired Lunch, with her hands on her hips.  
  
She was standing in the front yard of her cabin, located just outside the city limits of Big Mountain City. It was a beautiful location, a single level, log cabin, in the woods of Big Mountain on the top of a small waterfall with a perfect view of the city just below it. The river at the base of the waterfall ran straight through Big Mountain and headed onward past the city to the ocean on the other side.  
  
"Kyushinhan!" she called out again. At that moment a shadowy figure appeared in the sky above her head and slowly descend to the earth below.  
  
"Kyushinhan, where have you been?" she asked  
  
"The market Okaa-san, we were running low on a few things." He answered dressed in his usual blue training Gi and yellow under shirt with sash, and holding a couple of brown paper bags filled to the brim with groceries.  
  
"Oh, well that's good. In any case, I don't want you to go off training any time today. We have some guests coming over for a little bit."  
  
"Nani? Who?" he inquired  
  
"Bulma called me earlier this morning after you disappeared and told me that it was Trunks's birthday today and invited us to the party tonight. She told me that she was sending Pan and Mikal to come over and pick us up sometime today."  
  
"A party? I didn't think that Trunks would be into parties."  
  
"Apparently he's not and she wants it to be a surprise."  
  
"Hmm, I see. Well at least this will give me an excuse to test my strength against his. This might actually be a good thing."  
  
"Now Kyushinhan, don't go and make fights with anyone, we're their guests." She said sternly  
  
"Don't worry Okaa-san, besides I'm sure that Trunks would be looking forward to it." He replied  
  
"Well, anyway, put those in the kitchen before they get bad."  
  
"Hai." As he walked in the cabin and made his way back into the kitchen, Lunch turned on the TV to watch her morning soap opera.  
  
While putting the groceries away, there came a loud scream from the living room. Wasting no time he dashed in with lightening speed, "What! What is it?!"  
  
"There not playing my soaps this morning!" she hollered  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"They have some news report on!"  
  
"What is it?" he asked as he took the remote and turned up the volume.  
  
"Ohayo Gozadimas, I am Hidari Migi, your anchorman for this morning and this is ZTV with a special news report just in." stated the balding news anchorman in a cheap suit. "There seems to be a major disturbance in West island City. We have received reports of explosions and loss of power to most of the city. It appears that the local police force has called a state of emergency for the city, however we cannot confirm any of this at this time."  
  
"Wow, it seems to be going bad up there. This might be more interesting than I thought." Lunch said to herself, while Kyushinhan stared intensely at the news report on TV.  
  
"We have helicopters on their way to West Island City on Pineapple Island right now to investigate matters and confirms reports... Wait... Wait a minute; we're getting feedback from our news reporter flying in the ZTV News chopper, Samui Atsui. Take it away Samui."  
  
"Thank you Migi-san. This is Samui Atsui and right now we are flying over West Island City, as you can see the City is in flames. There are people running everywhere trying to escape the fires. I don't know what has transpired here, but it looks to be very serious. There are buildings in many places that look like they've exploded and are now in ruins."  
  
Kyushinhan's fists were tightening as the new reporter went on describing the scene, however by the looks of the video image on the screen, he didn't really have to. It was terrible, and he was fearing the worst.  
  
"We're trying to get a better look at downtown of the city and it look as if the local police force has formed road blocks and are setting up a defense perimeter in the middle of the city itself. Why they would do something like this I can't tell but... Wait a minute I see something. Pilot, try to get a little lower so we can get a better look... Yes, yes right there... I don't know if the viewers at home can see this, but there appears to something standing in the middle of the street maybe a hundred feet away from the police blockade. He's wearing what looks like military style pants and seems to have painted himself black all over his body. Is he insane..."  
  
Small beads of sweat started to roll from Kyushinhan's temples. Noticing her son's stone like face, she was beginning to worry.  
  
"It appears that this lunatic is taunting the police, waving at them to fire! What is this man thinking!" Just then as the ZTV news crew was flying up above the scene below, the police force fired a barrage of gunfire straight at the towering terror that stood in front of them, mocking them. "Oh Kami!! What are they doing? They're firing on him with everything they have! What are they trying to do? Ladies and gentlemen, it appears that the West Island City police force has just gunned down a man in the middle of... What the...?"  
  
As the cameras continued to capture the events transpiring below, the smoke from the gunfire was cleared away by the wind and still standing in the middle street, dusting himself off. "That's impossible, no one could've survived that..." As the cameras rolled, what it transmitted next was something no one had ever expected to see again. The monster of a man raised his right hand slowly at the police, and a glowing sphere of orange energy formed in his palms, and before the cameraman could even gasp, the energy blasted from his palms and enveloped the police force. Incinerating the entire lot of them, leaving behind only a gaping crater where they once stood as the ashes were blown away by the wind.  
  
"No... No... It can't be... GET US OUT OF HERE HURRY!! THEY'RE BACK!! THE JINZOUNINGEN ARE BACK!!! There's no doubt of it, there's nothing else in the world that have that kind of power, everyone get..." His sentence was cut off as the camera view on the TV screen shook violently. As it turned, there it was, filling the entire screen. Floating in the middle of the sky directly in front of the ZTV News chopper was the Monster. The thing that everyone thought was long dead, a Jinzouningen. It's black, shining skin reflecting the light from the sun, and it's deep, silver eyes, showing no signs of remorse. "No! No! I don't want to die! Please No!" Pleaded the news reporter just as Nijunigou clenched the front of the news chopper and started spinning it around in a circle. The image on the TV screen blurred and static as the members of the news crew held on for their lives then suddenly, the image blurred with static and blanked out.  
  
The image immediately went back to the anchorman, who was at this moment sweating bullets, his eyes as wide as softballs. He gulped as he tried to force the next few words past his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen it appears that we have lost all contact with our news crew, and as you have just seen... It appears that the Jinzouningen have returned. We will try to stay with this development for as long as we possibly can, and fill you in with up to the second details on where he might next appear... The only thing we can say is go home to your families and loved ones, and pray..."  
  
"Oh no, it can't be true can it?! I mean it's not possible, they were supposed to be destroyed years ago! Kyushinhan..." There was no answer as Lunch called out to her son. Whirling around he saw that the front door was wide open and swinging as if someone ran out of it. [NO...] She thought to herself [NO, You can't do this to me, I lost Tienshinhan, and I can't lose you too!! NO I CAN'T LOSE MY SON!!] Running outside as fast as her feet would allow, whipping her gaze to the sky, she was just barely able to catch the trail of her son's Ki disappearing into the horizon. "NOOOO!!!! NOOOO!!! KYUSHINHAN!!! COME BACK!!!!" She cried allowed as the tears flowed down her face, knowing that she would never see her son alive again. 


	15. Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN  
  
Soaring in the skies over vast forests and plains, the silver air car was making good time towards Big Mountain City. Examining the view, Mikal was taking the scenery below him from the passenger seat; awing at the extent of the forest growth and the scurrying animals. Guy on the other hand was laid out in both the back seats snoring away, annoying both Mikal and Pan.  
  
"Must he always snore so loudly?" Pan said in disgust  
  
"You'll get used to it, unfortunately." Mikal replied  
  
"I don't want to get used to it."  
  
"I know, but he has been acting a lot better these last couple of months. I even saw him help Bulma with the dishes the other day." He whispered  
  
"The dishes? Are you serious? You have to be kidding me right."  
  
"No I'm serious, I don't think he spotted me, but I know when someone is cleaning dishes, and that's exactly what he was doing."  
  
"Hmm... I guess Bulma is finally getting to him after all."  
  
"I guess so." Mikal chuckled  
  
"I was just being polite if you want to know." Came a loud, grumbling voice from the back seat. "She is letting the two of us stay there you know."  
  
"I know that, but I've never seen you do the dishes before." Mikal retorted  
  
"Yeah well, umm, shut up brat!" Guy shouted  
  
"Oooh, good come back." Said Mikal  
  
"I can still beat the crap out of you, you little punk."  
  
"If you can catch me that is, which incase you haven't, I'm still faster than you are even after all of your training."  
  
"Baka, speed is useful for those people who are to scared to stand up for themselves in a fight... Cowards like you." Guy grinned  
  
"Say what you want, you still can't catch me and you never will." Mikal snapped back  
  
"Will you two shut up already! We're almost there." Yelled Pan  
  
"I don't get it, why is Bulma insisting that we throw Trunks a party? He told us himself that he doesn't want one. It seems like a big waste of time to me to force a man into a doing something he doesn't want to do." Stated Guy  
  
"Because Bulma wants it to be a surprise that's why. You heard her, Trunks hasn't had a birthday party in ten years, and it's about time that he does." Said Pan  
  
"So, none of us has had one either." Stated Guy  
  
"Well, Trunks is going to, okay. Besides we're almost there so just hush up."  
  
"I'll make you hush up." He mumbled under his breath  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
As they continued to fly towards Big Mountain City, the bantering and bickering continued between Mikal and Guy, with Pan playing referee between the two. Finally, as they entered the city limits, the two brothers finally began to quiet down. Making their way through the busy city streets, navigating their way through intersections and honking their way past traffic jams, the three of them eventually made their way through downtown. They knew that Lunch and Kyushinhan lived on the other side, just past the city limits in the middle of Big Mountain forest. So they knew that it would take them at least another fifteen minutes before they reached their house.  
  
What initially was supposed to take them fifteen minutes to reach actually took about thirty to forty minutes to find, mind you that the three of them have never actually been to Lunch's house before and they were going purely by the instructions that Bulma gave them on a little slip of paper. Of course following the instructions on a piece of paper and trying to navigate in real life was completely different. They did however finally arrived at their destination when they spotted the waterfall and the log cabin on its bank off in the distance.  
  
"Finally!" complained Guy  
  
"Oh yeah, I'd like to see you try better!" Pan snapped back  
  
"I don't understand why we just didn't fly over here ourselves?"  
  
"Because Baka, Lunch can't fly and besides it would be rude if we insisted the Kyushinhan carry his mother the entire way. Now have you even thought about that?" said Pan  
  
"It would be a lot faster." He said  
  
"It doesn't matter now, we're here okay." Mikal jumped in  
  
As Pan drove up to the front of the cabin and parked near the front entrance, Lunch came bursting out of the front door. Her face was red and stressed, and tear streaks lined her cheeks.  
  
"Kyushinhan... Oh Pan-chan it's you. I forgot all about you coming here." She said  
  
As the three teens exited the car, troubled expressions appeared on all of them. "Lunch are you okay? What happened?" asked Pan  
  
"It's Kyushinhan... I can't believe he would just leave like that; he could get hurt..." she sobbed  
  
"What happened, where did he go?"  
  
"West Island City." Lunch answered  
  
"West Island City? But there's nothing there." Said Guy  
  
"You mean you don't know? You haven't heard?" she asked them  
  
"Heard what?" said Pan  
  
Immediately Lunch grabbed Pan by the arm and ran inside, dragging her behind. Confused the other two turned their heads and looked at each other for a second and then ran off after the women inside the cabin. As the two of them entered the room, they saw the TV was on and Lunch and Pan watching intently.  
  
"This is anchorman Hidari Migi reporting for ZTV News. We have managed to send out some remote robot cameras to West Island City where the carnage and destruction is continuing as we speak. Our latest estimates are that at least 9,000 people have been killed."  
  
"9,000 people... What is going on up there? What could kill 9,000 people?" Pan asked Lunch  
  
"J... Jinzouningen... They came back..." she managed to say, pushing the words past her throat. All three of them jumped back at the statement. Trembling and scared, Mikal started to sweat with fea,r and Guy couldn't even stop his hands from shaking. Pan on the other hand was filling with rage and hatred.  
  
"But that's impossible, I thought they were destroyed years ago." Guy mumbled out  
  
"So did I... So did everyone, but they're not. Somehow they're back... It was on the news this morning, one of them was destroying West Island City and then before I knew it, Kyushinhan took off. I know he's going there to fight it. I just know he is." She cried  
  
"We have to do something, we can't just let Kyushinhan go off and fight this thing alone! We're strong now, we can help him!" Hollered Mikal  
  
"No you can't! You're strong yes, but you're not strong enough to fight the Jinzouningen by yourselves! Trust me I know what I'm talking about, you can't..." Lunch was beginning to say when she was interrupted.  
  
"Lunch-san, take our car and head back to Bulma's house fast, and tell them what's happening. Trunks might still be in the Gravity room training. If he is then bang on the door as loud as you can and tell him everything that's going on! Hurry please, we'll speed our way to West Island City and try to help Kyushinhan as much as we can. We might not be able to defeat it, but at least we can help him distract it until Trunks arrives." Pan told Lunch  
  
"Pan-chan you can't! You won't stand a chance!"  
  
"That might be, but we don't have any other choice! Please Lunch let us do this..." she pleaded  
  
"Hai..." Lunch lowered her head "I'll go and tell them, just promise me you'll be careful... All of you!"  
  
"We will, we won't let those things get the best of us!" said Guy, and at that instant the three of them ran out of the cabin and took to the air at top speed.  
  
Lunch didn't even bother to chase after them; she just collapsed to the ground holding her face in her hands and cried. After a few minutes she managed to gather her senses and went outside to where the air car was still parked. The keys were left inside; she turned the key and started the engine. After a moment of figuring out the controls, the car lifted into the air and she slammed on the gas as hard as she could and before she knew it she was traveling as fast as lightening towards Capsule Corp. She would only hope that Bulma and Trunks were still there.  
------------------------  
[I'm sorry Okaa-san, please forgive me, but I have to do this, I can't just stand by and let those people die when I can help.] Kyushinhan was thinking to himself as the ocean waves passed beneath him.  
  
He was flying faster than he ever has before in his life, white-hot Ki flamed around his body and he would reach West Island City soon. As Pineapple Island was approaching over the horizon, he started to come to terms with the path his life has led. Perhaps this was his destiny, to live or die defending the people of this world. Maybe just maybe, all of his training was to lead him to this point, this one moment in life. Whether he was destined to live or die did not matter. What mattered was that if he could save the lives of the people living on this planet. That was the only thing that mattered right now.  
  
The Island became larger and larger by each passing moment; the beach whooshed past beneath him and was out of sight in less than half a second. He could sense the horror and death occurring ahead of him. Sensing the failing Ki signatures of the people in the city Kyushinhan poured on an extra boost of speed to reach his destination before any more people begin to die. However, during all of this, the one thing he couldn't sense was the monster responsible for all of those deaths. Perhaps because it wasn't really alive, it looks like that he'll have to do this the old fashioned way, by using his ears and eyes.  
  
West Island City...  
  
Nijunigou was hovering in a thick, dark, black cloud of smoke and soot in the middle of the city as fires raged wild throughout the populace. Floating out of the smoke and into a patch of clear air, free of filth and debris, the sky above him was dark as the muck and refuse from the current destruction drifted upward. The sounds of people screaming with terror, crying and the high pitch sirens of, what little were left, ambulances driving all over the city from place to place, trying their best to save the lives of those ho were still left alive. Taking them to the hospital that was extremely lucky to still be standing.  
  
Taking note of this, Nijunigou started to make his way to the hospital but then stopped quiet suddenly. His sensors beeped and picked up a large power level making it's way directly towards his position from the south. Puzzled however, because the power level of the one approaching is not sufficient enough to have destroyed his predecessors. Registering only at a power level of 12,000,000, Nijunigou was now highly disappointed. He had not accomplished his goal in luring out his primary target; however this slightly less powerful creature could be a potential threat in the future. He had no choice but to destroy it before if becomes just that. So he decided to wait for his prey to come to him.  
  
Meanwhile, Kyushinhan was closing in on the city. He could clearly see the bellowing smoke rising from the burning city buildings ahead of him. Putting all of his senses on high alert Kyushinhan slowed his speed and was now completely on guard, ready for whatever may come. As the distance between him and the city lessened, the sky overhead became darker, he could hear sirens sounding all around beneath him as he slowly entered the city itself. An apocalyptic landscape of death and destruction, the scene playing out below sickened him to his stomach. All of those people, dead or dieing on the rubble filled street beneath him.  
  
He couldn't do anything for them now, but maybe he'll be able to stop the terror from spreading any further. As he slowly made his way through the city, his ears listened to every little sound and his eyes darted all around him, searching intensely for his enemy. And then, in the midst of all the screams and sirens, he spotted a reflection of light in the towering cloud of smoke directly in front of him. He couldn't sense the presence of any Ki, however, there was definitely something there, waiting for him.  
  
As the smoke started to clear around it, Kyushinhan could finally see the disgusting demon hovering in mid air. With his head down, his eyes were closed with the arms folded across his chest. The red-orange lights from the burning fires were reflected off of his black-chrome like skin, the purple hair was tied back in a long ponytail. Studying his enemy closely, Nijunigou raised his head and opened his large, silver eyes to gaze into the eyes of Kyushinhan. Searching it's databanks on his new opponent, Nijunigou was unable to come up with any references on who his adversary was.  
  
"You're the one responsible for this aren't you!!?" Kyushinhan yelled  
  
Not even trying to respond, Nijunigou merely looked at him with those cold, silver eyes, as if trying to burn a hole right through his head.  
  
"Who are you monster?!" He yelled again  
  
The creature smiled at this question and replied. "Nijunigou..."  
  
"Nijunigou huh? Well that alone proves who you are! Why are you doing this!?"  
  
Again he smiled at the question. "I'm looking for Trunks..."  
  
"Trunks? What do you want with him!?"  
  
"I will kill him, but first I will kill you..."  
  
"I don't think so!!" He fired a Ki blast straight at Nijunigou's chest.  
  
Nijunigou simply swatted it away like a fly; firing one of his own energy blasts back in return. Kyushinhan crossed his arms in front of him; the blast struck his arms and disintegrated. Looking up from his crossed arms, Kyushinhan ducked out of the way of an incoming fist, just in the nick of time. Flipping backwards in the air he attempted to land a vertical, spinning heel kick, which was blocked by Nijunigou's forearm. Unfortunately, Kyushinhan's ankle was grabbed immediately by Nijunigou's free hand and he was being spun around Nijunigou's head like a lasso.  
  
He was being spun around so fast that blood was rushing to his head and he started to feel faint, just then Nijunigou threw him at full speed towards a nearby building. Careening into the building, mortar and iron beams exploded as his body crashed through several floors. Finally coming to a stop in what seemed to be the mailroom, debris all around him, he was shocked and surprise to see that there were still some people in it, hiding from the chaos outside.  
  
Gathering his sensing, the smoke and dust filled his lungs as he stood to his feet, [Kuso!! This is too dangerous; there still people here in the city. I have to lure him away, but where... I got it!! I just hope it works.] He thought to himself as he made his way around the terrified, crouching people on the floor. Electricity was barely functioning as the lights blinked erratically on and off, finally making his way to a window, he shot through it like it wasn't there, scaring the people inside even more. Nijunigou hadn't moved from his spot, apparently waiting for him to come back out and continue the fight.  
  
"You think you're tough don't you? Picking on a bunch of helpless people, you're a coward!" Kyushinhan yelled at him. Nijunigou scowled at that remark, obviously getting to him he continue on berating him. "Just as I thought, you can't fight anyone without having innocent people all around to serve as distractions for your opponents! That's why you picked to fight in the middle of a populated city!" Again Nijunigou scowled, even deeper this time, baring his teeth. [Here we go, and now for the whole kitten- caboodle. Let's see if he falls for it.] And besides, it's obvious that you don't know where Trunks is do you? No of course you don't... But I do!"  
  
"Where is he!!!?"  
  
[That got him!!] "Ha do you actually I'll tell someone like you! Baka! You have to defeat me first!"  
  
"Easily done..."  
  
"Baka! What did I just say? You can't fight without having distractions around you to confuse your opponents because you're a coward and you're weak! You want to know where he is, then you follow me to a place where are no people around!"  
  
"Very well..."  
  
"Good!" Kyushinhan took to the air rising above the dark, bellowing clouds of smoke and ash and flew to the east of the Island.  
  
Flames of white Ki roared around him as he flew, taking a quick look back behind him, he glanced Nijunigou in close pursuit. [It worked; I actually got him to follow me. At least this way there won't be any more people in danger of being injured, or even worse, killed because of us. Hopefully he'll follow me all the way to the remains of East Island City. If things get to hairy, I might be able to find quick places to hide. Trunks, I hope Okaa-san is somehow letting you know what's going on up here if you haven't heard already. I can't sense any Ki from him, but by the way things have been before with these "things", I'm going to need your help on this one.]


	16. Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN  
  
Lunch was racing in the silver air car as fast as the car would fly towards New Capitol City to reach Bulma and Trunks. The intercom phone in the car was set for continuous dialing for the Capsule Corp house but no one would answer the phone. The blond haired bombshell kept pounding on the dashboard of the car, putting dents in the vinyl plastic. She had the radio turned on to the ZTV News radio network, 102.7 FM, for anything else might indicate that her son may have been spotted in West Island City. So far nothing was being said about Kyushinhan.  
  
"This is Sukoshi Brown for ZTV News Radio, we have news information that just came in... It seems that our remote robot cameras from our affiliate network, ZTV News, has captured some images of what apparently seems to be an individual confronting the Jinzouningen!"  
  
"Kyushinhan!!" Lunch shouted almost loosing control of the car  
  
"It would also appear that this individual is flying in the air, so far we have been unable to identify him but... Wait a minute folks... It seems that they are flying away from West Island City. Hai, hai it's true, they are indeed flying away from West Island City towards the east. Folks we are sending two of our remote cameras out to follow them wherever they go. We're not going to let them leave our sights!"  
  
"Kyushinhan I hope you know what you're doing. Oh, Bulma where the hell are you! My son needs help!" She shouted pounding again on the dashboard, as the silver air car streaked across the skies.  
----------------------------------------  
The plan was working; Nijunigou was following him all the way to East Island City, well the ruins of East Island City anyway. Passing through the clouds above the island, Kyushinhan noted that it was sparsely populated in the first place, unfortunately, so did Nijunigou.  
  
"Oi! That's far enough!" bellowed Nijunigou, coming to a complete halt  
  
Kyushinhan was forced to stop in the middle of his tracks, his aura of Ki falling away around him like dust in the wind. Turning back to face his enemy, the two of them were hovering thousands of feet in the air above a vast field, lightly dotted with trees and small hills. The smell of nature was strong even at their altitude, as their eyes were meeting each other's, Nijunigou started descend towards the earth below, and Kyushinhan followed.  
  
As his feet touched the ground, a light breeze blew across the plains. The tall grass and the leaves in the trees swayed back and forth in the wind and the leaves floated away across the horizon. All the while Nijunigou, showing no emotion what so ever suddenly spoke.  
  
"Where is Trunks?"  
  
"Hmph! Do you actually think that I would lead you to him baka!"  
  
Scowling, "Where is Trunks!?" he demanded more forcefully  
  
"Baka yaro!!! I'll never tell you where he is!!"  
  
"Then you will die..." Just then he leapt into the air with lightening speed that Kyushinhan almost didn't have enough time to react. Jumping backwards, he had just barely dodged two giant boots crashing down on his last position, the force of the blow spewing rocks and dirt into the air. Taking his chance, Kyushinhan fired a powerful Ki blast into that cloud of rubble. As the blast struck the cloud, it exploded with great power as a brilliant flash burst forth with such blinding light that he took to the air to escape the shockwave.  
  
As both the light and the shockwave dissipated, there was no sign of his opponent. All of a sudden a power fist landed in the middle of his back. Doubling backwards in pain, Nijunigou's elbow came crashing down into the center of his chest. Sending Kyushinhan back to the earth below like a meteor. The initial impact of his collision with the ground created an explosion which threw up tons of dirt into the air creating a big crater and also sent pillars of rock and earth skywards only to come falling to the ground again. Holding out a giant gloved hand, Nijunigou, followed up by firing consecutive rounds of powerful energy blasts. Blasting at the newly formed crater, smoke, dust and vapor filled the skies above the plains.  
  
After a few minutes of continuous bombardment, Nijunigou stopped his fire. As the dust cleared away, there came into view a bright shimmer of a Ki force field. None of Nijunigou's energy blasts had penetrated Kyushinhan's force field.  
  
"Haaaaaaaaa!!!" Kyushinhan began to scream, and as he did, his Ki flared brightly around his body like a raging fire. The brilliance white aura turned blue and the land around him began to shake and rumble. Steam rose from the ground he was standing on and the earth started to rise and float in the air and then explode all over. The veins in his neck and arms throbbed and pulsed as he felt his Ki rise higher and higher.  
  
Nijunigou's sensors beeped on and off in rapid succession as the digital readouts raced to higher and higher numbers. Power levels previously undetectable; 14,000,000... 14,500,000... 15,000,000... It kept climbing and seemed as if it wouldn't stop, obviously surprised by this outcome, but not worried as the power level readings were in danger of surpassing his power. However it was still climbing upwards; 18,500,000... 19,000,000...  
  
Reaching his medium state of maximum power, Kyushinhan launched into the sky liked a rocket. Much faster than Nijunigou was expecting of an individual with this power level, he was caught off guard as Kyushinhan's two fists nailed him directly in his diaphragm.  
  
As his opponent doubled over, Kyushinhan spun himself like a top and landed several powerful kicks to the face and followed up with a combination of punches and kicks that struck Nijunigou in the face, stomach and groin. The last strike in the combo being a double heel kick that connected solidly with the side of his temples.  
  
The last kick sent Nijunigou flying across the sky like a falling satellite, however it wasn't enough to knock him down completely. Forcing himself to an instant stop that sent shockwaves through the air, Nijunigou fired many rounds of high power energy balls at Kyushinhan, forcing him to either dodge or block. Using this momentary distraction, he shot himself at supersonic speed past several of his own energy balls and landed a crushing blow to Kyushinhan's gut.  
  
The wind was knocked of him as Nijunigou's fist drove itself into his stomach. Coughing up a mixture of blood and spit, he attempted to block another blow to his face by throwing both of his arms up to cover himself. The strength of Nijunigou's punch was to much as he felt the muscles in his forearms rip away from his bones. Being propelled backwards, he used this opportunity to try to slaughter Nijunigou for good.  
  
"Taiyoken!!!!!" Ignoring the pain he felt in his arms, he threw his hands up and brilliant bright flash, as bright as the sun itself, exploded across the entire land.  
  
The flash blinded Nijunigou's eyes, and he couldn't see a thing. Kyushinhan Shot higher into the air directly above Nijunigou's head. Forming his hands together into a diamond shape and focusing on his opponent, the image of Nijunigou zoomed closer.  
  
"KIKO-HO!!!!!" Yelled Kyushinhan  
  
Suddenly, Nijunigou's sensors beeped crazily as the power reading from Kyushinhan's Kikoho blast registered at 65,000,000. However, it was already too late, Nijunigou was struck dead on and he could feel his internal systems begin to shatter. He felt the energy flow around him as it burned away some of his outer skin.  
  
Kyushinhan looked down at his fallen enemy with some pride. He was hoping that his Kikoho would have been enough to put him out of commission for good, but something inside of him doubted it very much.  
-------------------------------------  
Pan, Mikal and Guy were zipping across the ocean at soaring speeds, as fast as they have ever flown before. Pineapple Island was getting larger as they approached; whites flames of Ki surged across their bodies as the anticipation of an actual life or death battle and fear started to fill their minds. As the coastline passed beneath them, there was a sudden rise in Ki power coming from the east. All three of the young would-be warriors stopped suddenly in their tracks as their gazes turned simultaneously.  
  
"Oi Pan, over there past the horizon," Mikal pointed, "I think Kyushinhan is over there. But I thought he was going to West Island City, there's nothing over there in that direction except for ruins."  
  
"Hmph." Guy grinned slightly "Not bad, he's lured that monster to that side of the island because he knew that there are no people living over there."  
  
"Alright, well if he's managed to make that thing follow him then we better get a move on and help him before it's too late." Said Pan in a very firm and commanding voice, however, even though she was acting cool and steady on the outside, on the inside she was completely terrified. She's seen these things kill people before and she's still haven't gotten over her mother's death. Powering up, the three young warriors blasted off in the direction where they felt Kyushinhan's Ki.  
------------------------------------------  
"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Sukoshi Brown for ZTV News Radio once again with some breath taking news! Our remote robot cameras have just captured an intense battle that took place only moments ago! It would appear that this young man, whoever he is, is holding his own against the Jinzouningen. We still haven't been able to identify who he is exactly, but if you are watching this broadcast on TV please let us know if recognize this individual. Unfortunately, our cameras were destroyed by the shockwave during that last attack, which appeared to be some sort of high yield energy blast. We can only hope that the Jinzouningen was destroyed and that this young man is all right."  
  
"Kyushinhan I hope he's right." Lunch said to herself. "It should be another ten minutes before I get to Bulma's house. Kyushinhan, you better be in one piece when you come back." She continued on her way to the Capsule Corp house.  
---------------------------------------------  
Everyone in the hover copter was laughing and enjoying them selves, reminiscing on old times. Bulma and Chi-Chi were seated in the front seats; Master Roshi, Oolong and Puar were seated in the Middle seats while Ox King took almost the entire back section of the copter all by himself. Things were going good and everyone was happy, but then a sudden spark flashed across Master Roshi's mind and he got extremely serious and silent and then lowered his head.  
  
"Hahaha... Huh? Oi, Master Roshi what's wrong?" asked Oolong who was sitting right next to him.  
  
"I felt something... Something that I haven't felt in a very long time, an extremely high power level of Ki energy, it spiked sharply just now." He replied sullenly.  
  
The situation suddenly got grim, this was a familiar scene that has been played out many times before in the past, bit was also something that they haven't been involved in for quite some time, and none of them were liking where this was going as they tensed their muscles.  
  
"Master what do you mean?" asked Ox King  
  
"I mean that someone is in involved in a powerful battle right now. But I don't recognize the Ki signature at all. I do know that it's not Trunks however, but it is human... I don't like this... I don't like this one bit." Stated Master Roshi  
  
"If it's not Trunks, then could it be one of the others you suppose? Maybe it's Kyushinhan, or Pan... It might be even Mikal or Guy..." said Chi-Chi  
  
"I don't know Chi-Chi, but we should turn up the speed and get home fast." Said Bulma  
  
"Hai!" Chi-Chi agreed with her and Bulma slammed her foot down on the acceleration and the hover copter shot at supersonic speed towards home.  
-----------------------------------------  
As the smoke rose from the perfectly square shaped hole in the ground, Kyushinhan felt uneasy. He knew this wasn't the end of the fight, it was just the beginning, and all of a sudden a bright flash came forth from the hole. Covering his eyes, Kyushinhan sensing the danger, launched him self backwards as fast as he could just in time to dodge a giant red energy ball, obviously intended for him. The ball missed him completely and rose into the sky like rocket and disappeared beyond the clouds.  
  
Removing his hands from his eyes, he could see Nijunigou hovering above the giant square hole. Small portions of skins seemed charred and burned off, and his long ponytail was frayed and singed. But he was, as far as he could tell, nonetheless fully operational.  
  
[Kuso! This is not going to be good. He looks pissed.] He thought to himself.  
  
"It would seem that I have underestimated you. Your power level is capable of rising and falling at will and you seem to possess a very destructive technique. I will not make that mistake again!" Nijunigou shouted  
  
"We'll see about that!" Kyushinhan taunted, trying to keep him self from trembling.  
  
"Oh really? Well then, why don't you try to knock me down again." Baiting him into a trap.  
  
"Okay then, if that's what you want... DO-DON PA!!!!" He fired a powerful blast directly at Nijunigou. However it did not have the effect he was hoping for. Instead of destroying him it seemed to restore his energy.  
  
Raising his hands, the red modules of his palms glowed brightly as he absorbed the vast powerful energy that was intended for his destruction. It swirled and spun in circles around him as the flow of the energy was being re-diverted into his body, and the look on Kyushinhan's face was even more satisfying. The look of utter horror at the realization at what he had done was all he could have asked for.  
  
[No! How could I have been so stupid! I did exactly what he wanted me to do, he absorbed the energy from the Do-Don Pa and it made him stronger!] He cursed himself  
  
As the energy was completely absorbed into his body, Nijunigou looked up at his enemy.  
  
"Well now, let's finish this..." he said coldly with a cruel smile. Nijunigou launched himself like a bat out of hell towards his target.  
  
Kyushinhan was caught in a hurricane of fists and feet, his already battered body taking even more punishment by this artificial beast. The speed of the Jinzouningen was amazingly fast, luckily he was able to block or dodge some of them, but not all of them. With every punch and kicked that landed, great shockwaves of pain were sent streaming through every part of his body. One of the punches landed directly in the center of his chest, sending him flying across the sky and crashing into a large hill almost a mile away.  
  
The crash of his body into the hill complete annihilated it, spewing large amount of dirt, rocks and various other debris into the air, temporarily blocking out the sun. Clutching his chest in immense pain, he vomited blood into the air that came back falling to the ground next to him. He could feel the fractured bones in his chest, and he felt like fainting from the pain, but there was something inside of him that made him stand up. Shaking and trembling, he slowly made it to one knee. Blood was dripping to the ground from almost every part of his body; he could taste it in his mouth, see it in his eyes, and smell it in his nose. There were massive open cuts all over his torso, arms and thighs, along with very deep and extremely ugly bruises. His Gi was in tatters, ripped to shreds, it was amazing that it hadn't been totally obliterated by now due to all the violence.  
  
"Come on, STAND UP! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DIE LIKE THIS!!" He yelled at himself as he fought through the blinding pain and finally made it to both of his feet. Still clutching at his chest with one of his arms, he could clearly make out the wake of displacing air as Nijunigou made his way in his direction. [I hope I have enough strength for this.] Crouching in a horse stance position, Kyushinhan started to gather the rest of his energy.  
  
As Nijunigou closed in on his prey, his sensors once again beeped on. "So it looks like you got some life left in you still... Good." He said to himself. Slowing down to a point about a thousand feet away from Kyushinhan, he hovered there allowing his opponent to raise his power level to his maximum potential. He didn't want to kill him to quickly, besides, by prolonging this battle his true target may appear and attempt to intervene. So he floated there in the air and let Kyushinhan power up... 16,000,000... 17,000,000... 18,000,000... 19,000,000... 20,000,000... [So it will seem that you can rise to a higher power level than before, not that it will do you any good however.] He thought to himself as it kept going higher. 23,000,000... 24,000,000... 24,500,000... 25,000,000... 25,500,000... 26,000,000... Then it stopped and leveled out. A big smile came over his face as he closed the distance between him and Kyushinhan.  
  
Levitating nearly two thousand feet in the air, the clouds were darkening and storm clouds rolled in overhead. The wind was blowing all around them like a raging typhoon and Kyushinhan was now at his highest, maximum fighting potential. He had never raised his power this high before, and he felt the power and strength course through his veins. His muscles were bulging; bright blue Ki surged over his body as he glared at his enemy; the filth that came here to murder all of those innocent people in West Island City.  
  
"I won't allow you to live you bastard! I'm sending you to hell where you belong!" he shouted  
  
"Hmph, is that all you got little human? My power level is almost fifty million above your own. Do you seriously think you can defeat me?" Nijunigou retorted, mocking him.  
  
"I have no choice but to defeat you! I won't lose!!" And he blasted off at Nijunigou with all the fury, rage and power he had at his disposal. No matter what happened, he could not allow Nijunigou to live. 


	17. Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN  
  
"Ladies and Gentlemen, our final estimates are in... My Kami, it seems that the total number of deaths in West Island City are just over 11,000 people. I can't believe it, 11,000 people dead... This is a black day for us all...The hospitals are being over run with the dead and the wounded, we are asking if anyone is able to help out the authorities and the medical personal in West Island City to please do so...  
  
We have had information come in about the mysterious young man who confronted the Jinzouningen earlier, we don't have a name as of yet, but it would seem that this individual is a citizen of Big Mountain City. Residents of Big Mountain City, if you are watching this broadcast on TV right now, please contact us if you recognize the individual in the still frames. And if you're still listening to this broadcast we have a description for you, he appears to be in his early twenties, extremely well built, perhaps 220 to 230 lbs. He has brown hair and brown eyes and is approximately 6 to 6 and a half feet tall. That is all the information we have on this man so far. Our ZTV News crew in West Island City are reporting that the fire departments have finally able to control the flames which were spreading through out the metropolis like wild fire only 20 minutes ago.  
  
This just in, our affiliate station ZTV is sending another group of remote robot cameras to the last known location of out previous robots to try to find out the fate of the Jinzouningen and the young warrior who fought him. Ladies and Gentlemen, as soon as cameras reach their destination and are able to locate them we will let you know instantly."  
  
"Oh my son, I hope you are all right... There it is! Capsule Corp! Bulma, Trunks, you two have better be here!" she shouted to herself as she landed Pan's silver air car in the driveway of the Capsule Corp House.  
------------------------------------------------  
Lightening crashed and the clouds thundered as Trunks dodged a giant whirling hammer being thrown in his direction. It missed and struck a large rock face behind him, the tall grass swayed back and forth violently as the wind from the approaching storm rolled in. Meanwhile, the giant tattooed ogre resumed his attack and spitted a furious ball of venom from his mouth. Trunks simply stuck out his hand and repelled the venom away from him by the force of his Ki, bouncing back towards the ogre. It splattered all over it's face and it fell to the ground screaming in pain.  
  
Just then, as if on cue, a little green creature, which looked like a cross between a devil and an elf, jumped from hiding and shot a series of fireballs at Trunks. Flipping backwards out of the way, the fireballs exploded and caught the grass ablaze in flames. As the tall grass field around him burned, the little green devil again leaped up and hung in the air and this time fired a bolt of electricity at him. Trunks a small Ki blast that intersected the electricity bolt and they both exploded which blinded the green devil. After rubbing it's eyes, it looked around the immediate area to find it's target. But to no avail, Trunks was gone.  
  
Turning around it was struck dead in it's face by a powerful fist that concaved it's skull and sent it falling from the sky and landed with a loud thud next to the ogre. Trunks levitated in the air for a few seconds and looked around the burning field; he was able to make out thirty bodies. All of them were a mixture of animal creature, fictional monsters and people. There was one missing; he had programmed this training session for twenty opponents. Scratching his head wondering he had made a mistake, there was a sharp jolt to his ribs and he was knocked out of the air onto the ground.  
  
Holding his side, he looked up from his position on the ground and was able to make out his final opponent. It was Piccolo; Trunks had gotten into the habit of programming the computer to select a random set of enemies for his "warm up" session before his main sparring match with one of the characters from his personal files. Usually he would set the maximum amount of opponents at twenty or twenty five before his primary opponent would appear. This time he had set the number to thirty, slowly increasing his training level a little higher every month; increasing the number of opponents he would have to fight along with the gravity level, which was currently set at 100 times normal gravity.  
  
Piccolo looked down at Trunks and smiled, his sharp fangs showing through. Trunks smiled back as he gazed back up at him, he was looking forward to this sparring session. Even though he was just a holographic representation of the real Piccolo, it still brought a sense of something familiar of the past to his present day life.  
  
Trunks stood to his feet and slowly raised him self in the air to meet him face to face. Piccolo floated there just the way Trunks remembered; his arms folded, crossed in front of his chest, dressed in a dark purple Gi, a white turban on his head and his white cape flapping in the wind. He lowered his arms to his sides, and stared at Trunks for a few moments, then charged. The collision of their forearms sent a small shockwave over the holographic landscape. Growling at each other Piccolo made the next move and swept his leg around to catch Trunks in his stomach, but Trunks parried his kick and thrust his left knee into Piccolo's kidneys.  
  
Doubling his opponent over, Trunks threw down an overhead hammer punch with both of his fists aimed for Piccolo's back, only to catch nothing but a white cape wrapped around them. Just then a green fist came up from underneath the cape and collided with Trunks's jaw, causing him to cough up some spit and he was flung upwards for about fifty feet. Piccolo, now free from his cape and turban, shot himself ahead of Trunks and executed an overhand, ridge hand technique zeroed in on Trunks's neck. Only to be blocked, using his upward momentum, he came up right under Piccolo's chin and head butted him; snapping his neck backwards. He followed up by launching a series of punches into Piccolo's abdomen for good measure and performed a roundhouse kick to his chest that sent him crashing to the ground like a meteor.  
  
He was about to finish the match by carrying out a Ki attack, when all of a sudden he felt a huge jump in Ki energy emanating from somewhere. He was completely confused and shocked, at first he could have sworn that the Ki energy had come from Piccolo, but after a few seconds Trunks came to his senses. He knew better than that, this visage of Piccolo was computer generated and was not alive. But where did it come from? He had noticed a rising Ki signature earlier before, but he was so caught up in his own training that he had completely forgotten about it.  
  
But now that there was another flash of Ki energy, Trunks decided to focus in... As he closed his eyes and spread out his senses to concentrate on the Ki energy, he recognized it as Kyushinhan's. [He seems to be taking his training quite serious today.] Trunks thought to himself. [I can't remember the last time he's gone this high. But that's good though, maybe he'll...] His thoughts were rudely interrupted, by a powerful brown moccasin, that caught him right in the nose, sending small spurts of blood flying in the air.  
  
Abruptly knocked back to reality, Trunks was just barely to dodge the next flurry of clawed hands as they were being thrown and jabbed at his face along with some fast and, obviously, powerful feet. Trunks grabbed one of Piccolo's feet with his right hand and yanked him towards himself, while using his left hand and delivered a series of quick rabbit punches and jabs to Piccolo's face. Still holding on to Piccolo's foot, Trunks pulled Piccolo closer to himself again and this time delivered a mighty uppercut to his jaw.  
  
Piccolo went hurling into the air like a discus in the Olympics. Shooting himself behind him, he delivered an elbow strike to Piccolo's ribs, which bent him over like a straw, and for the next few minutes the two of them exchange blows in a frenzy of punches and kicks that, had anyone been watching, would never have been able to make out. But just there came a loud banging noise from somewhere. Distracted and caught off guard by the noise, Trunks turned his head to the direction of the noise only to be completely knocked out of the air by a double heel kick to his temple. Screaming out of the sky like a missile and colliding with the ground was not a pleasant experience.  
  
Trunks took a couple of seconds to collect his thoughts as Piccolo gently landed on the ground next to him, his arms crossed with a smirk on his face. Trunks couldn't help but smile. Suddenly came that loud banging noise again, and again, each time getting louder and sounding more urgent.  
  
"Computer end sparring program and return to normal gravity."  
  
The computer carried out his commands as he watched the image of Piccolo, still smiling, slowly become transparent and then disappear, and with him, the landscape around him as well, as the true setting of the Gravity room took its place. The cold metal tiles, and the blinking lights of the main computer at the center of the chamber came into view and the atmosphere with the chamber itself began to change as the gravity was being restored to its original state. This took a total of maybe ten seconds, after doing so Trunks got up to his feet and walked over to the wall of the gravity room, picked up a towel and started to wipe himself off. Dressed only in blue sweat shorts, a pair of sneakers and a white tank top, he threw the towel around his shoulders and proceeded to the door, where the banging persisted.  
  
"Okay, okay I'm coming... Why didn't you just use the intercom I installed a month ago, it would save everyone a lot of headaches." He said to himself, not knowing who would be so impolite and rude, as to bang on the outer door like that. He made his way to the door and tapped a button; as the door slip up, he was surprised by who was outside, it was Lunch! She looked completely panicked, her skin was pale and she seemed as if she was about to throw up.  
------------------------------------------  
As lunched touched down on the driveway, she threw the door open not even thinking about turning the car off or even setting it in park. She ran to the door as fast as she could and knocked on the door hoping someone was home. But there was no answer.  
  
"Come on, come on where are you guys?!" she screamed, and banged on the door again. But still no answer, and trying the doorknob to see if it was locked, she was a little stunned to see that the door was in fact unlocked. Dismissing the unlocked door, she flung the door wide open and screamed into the house.  
  
"Bulma!! Trunks!! Are you in here?! Anybody!!!"  
  
Running through the house like a mad woman she went into and out of every room she could think of. She dashed through the living room, the den, the kitchen, the laboratory in the basement of the house, then running upstairs to the second floor where most of the bedrooms were and still no one to be found. She ran upstairs to the third floor to Bulma's bedroom was, the study and the business offices and yet still no one was home. She became panicked; tears were running down her cheeks and began tugging at her blond hair.  
  
But then a thought occurred, [Pan said that Trunks might be in his Gravity room outside in the back yard training. Oh please Kami let him he there, please!!] She ran down the three flights of stairs and made her way to the kitchen that led to the back yard. She flung the door open and nearly threw it off it's hinges as she did so, but she didn't care. Lunch ran to the main outer door of the Gravity room and started pounding as hard as she could, but there was nothing. She waited a few seconds and pounded on the door again, even louder this time and she kept pounding on it. She couldn't stop hitting the door as the thought of her only son dieing in a fight thousands of mile away flooded her mind. But then there was a hiss of pneumatic valves and the door slowly slip open. Trunks was standing there in workout clothes and sweaty. He looked surprised to see her and she began ranting on and on incoherently.  
  
Trunks had to grab her by the shoulders and calm her down because she wasn't making any sense to him. "Lunch, Lunch calm down. I'm right here, now slow down and talk straight I can't understand what you're saying. What's wrong?"  
  
Catching her breath, breathing slowly, she did manage to calm a little, but not much. "The Jinzouningen... They're Back!"  
  
It was as if he was suddenly struck in the throat by a two-by-four. He couldn't believe what she just said. However, he remained silent as Lunch went on in explaining the situation to him.  
  
"It's been on the news all morning, there was a big disturbance up in West Island City. When the reporters got there, they filmed it burning half of the city. It killed 11,000 people with in a matter of minutes. Kyushinhan saw the news report and flew off to fight it and I couldn't stop him. After a little while Pan, Mikal and Guy came to the house and they saw the news report too. I told them about Kyushinhan and they took off after him. Pan told me to take her car and come here to find you... Please... Please you have to help my son, I don't think he can fight them alone please Trunks I can't lose my son..." She pleaded as the tears once again flowed down her cheek.  
  
All the while Trunks hated himself for what was happening, it was entirely his fault. How could he be so stupid? The Ki energy that he felt earlier coming from Kyushinhan, it wasn't because he was training, it was because he was fighting! Fighting a Jinzouningen for his very life! How could he be so stupid!! He had no time to blame himself right now, right now he had to make it to his friends and save them before something bad happens.  
  
"Lunch-san! Where did you say it was? West Island City?"  
  
"Hai... But the news reporter on the radio said that they were moving east away from the city." She cried, forcing the words passed her throat  
  
"Probably because he was luring away from the people. Okay, I'm going! Lunch-san I want you to go in the house and wait for Okaa-san to come back. I think I sensed her leave earlier this morning but I'm not sure where she left to."  
  
"Hai, please Trunks, bring Kyushinhan back to me." She looked at him with the look of dread in her eyes that only a mother can have.  
  
"I will... I promise I won't let anything happen to him." With that last sentence, Trunks took to the air and sped off straight for Pineapple Island towards West Island City, honing in on Kyushinhan's Ki, along with the others. As he flew, the wake from his Ki created tremendous turbulence beneath him that the trees directly under him were ripped out by the roots and catapulted into the air. As he focused in on the Ki signatures of his friends, he could sense that Kyushinhan was in fact far east of West Island City, almost to the ruins of East Island City. Pan, Mikal and Guy were almost on top of him, and Kyushinhan was losing the battle. He couldn't detect the Jinzouningen, but going from his past experiences, he knew that they didn't have any Ki levels to detect in the first place. Whatever this new Jinzouningen was, it was a lot stronger than Kyushinhan, and Trunks had to make it there fast, before it killed him.  
-------------------------------------------------  
"I have no choice but to defeat you! I won't lose!!" And he blasted off at Nijunigou with all the fury, rage and power he had at his disposal. No matter what happened, he could not allow Nijunigou to live.  
  
The two of them engaged in a flurry of strikes, most of which Nijunigou was able to block or avoid all together. Kyushinhan on the other hand was not so lucky, it seemed as if this monster was toying with him, at the same time being battered and beaten. Blood was now running freely from his nose and the sides of his mouth. There were open wounds and cut all of his body and he felt as if he were about to collapse.  
  
"Haaaaaa!!" Screamed Kyushinhan as he reared up his right fist and threw a punch at Nijunigou with all of his might.  
  
Connecting squarely in his face, Nijunigou barley budged, and even chuckled at the futility of it. He grabbed Kyushinhan's wrist with his left hand just as Kyushinhan delivered a power kidney shot with his other fist, again with no visible effect. Grabbing his other wrist with his left hand, he pulled his arms out in a crucifix position and continued his torture on his opponent by delivering several head butts to Kyushinhan's face. Blood spilling out from the open head wounds, and the sounds of his skull cracking made Nijunigou laugh.  
  
"Hahahaha!! Pathetic little ingrate, how you think that someone as weak as you could have ever possibly defeated me!" He taunted  
  
"Go to hell you monster!" Kyushinhan coughed up, he could taste the blood in his throat, and was blinded in his right eye and he kept it shut. He had to come up with something, and fast. "So you think you got me at a disadvantage to you? Just because I can't use two of my arms?"  
  
Nijunigou was puzzled by his statement; perhaps he had caused some brain damage with the head butts he delivered just now.  
  
"Well watch this!" And from just underneath the armpits of his presently immobile, and greatly damage arms. There began to emerge two bulges, one on each side.  
  
As Nijunigou watched, he was visibly stunned at the growing masses of flesh as they grew longer and thicker in muscle mass. And then all of a sudden, there were indeed two more complete arms just below the first two.  
  
Kyushinhan began launching his attack on an obviously confused Jinzouningen. Pounding away on his abdomen and chest as hard as he could, delivering one massive blow after another. He might have his other two arms locked up, but not the new ones he just grew. With the combinations of kicks and knees to Nijunigou's kidneys and groin, he was finally to break free of the monster's grip and connected with two solid right-handed uppercuts to Nijunigou's chin, sending him upwards in the sky for about eighty feet or so. Unfortunately, performing the Shyouken technique took more energy out of him than he realized and he was unable to follow up on his attack.  
  
Nijunigou merely stopped himself from going higher quite easily and looked down on his opponent with distaste. Then his sensors beeped on, there was apparently three more power signatures making their way to the battlefield, but, even all put together, they were still quite disappointingly much lower than his current opponent. However, this new development gave him an idea. He would dispose of his present adversary, nearly to the point of death, and play with the new and fresh ones coming his way.  
  
"Well, it would seem that your friends are arriving to help you." He smirked in a harsh, cold voice.  
  
"Nani?"  
  
Just then Nijunigou launched himself at Kyushinhan with lightening speed and punched him in the stomach, almost to the point of punching right through his body. He could here ribs breaking and internal organs rupturing. Doubling over in great pain, Kyushinhan didn't even have the ability to scream as clutched himself in a fetal position. Nijunigou then raised both of his hands together and hammered them down in the middle of his back, send him careening to the earth.  
  
The impact caused an explosion that sent earth and rocks spewing towards the sky. Kyushinhan lay motionless in the center of a giant crater that was also caused by his impact. He no longer had to energy to move and he could feel his mind slipping away as his extra arms were now re-absorbed back into his body. He tried to move with all his might, but he couldn't feel his legs, his back had been broken in several places. The only thing he could do was lay there in a pool of his own blood and listen to that horrible thing above bellow in amusement.  
  
Pan, Mikal and Guy were flying in a "V" formation when they caught a glimpse of a giant dark cloud of debris rise from the ground like a volcano spewing up ash. Then Pan felt it, Kyushinhan's Ki was dangerously low.  
  
"Come on you guys, Kyushinhan is in trouble!" Putting themselves into overdrive and powering up to maximum, they arrived at their destination within a matter of thirty seconds, and what they saw terrified them. A horrifying Black-chromed monstrosity with a long, purple ponytail, smiling a menacingly as they approached the battle sight. There were only a few scratches on it, as far as they could tell. But then as the three of them looked down, they grew pale.  
  
"Kyushinhan!!" screamed Mikal, and landed next to Kyushinhan's broken body. He was barely conscious as Mikal spoke to him. "Kyushinhan, what did that monster do to you? Kyushinhan! Kyushinhan can you hear me!?"  
  
"You bastard! What did you do to him? Answer me!" Pan demanded  
  
Nijunigou smirked, "I beat him to a bloody pulp, that's what I did to him."  
  
"Kuso! You'll pay for this!" yelled Guy  
  
Nijunigou scanned his new rivals. There were two males and one female. The female was dressed in gray cargo pants, white sneakers and a red t-shirt; her power level was scanned at 12,000. The largest male was dressed in black boots, blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather jacket. He was approximately the same size as Nijunigou was; however, his power level was only at 7,000. And finally, the smallest male, who was standing on the ground, was in kakis, brown shoes and was wearing a long-sleeved, gray shirt; and his power level was at a dismal 6,800.  
  
Nijunigou sighed, "Don't tell me that this is all the power the three of you can muster together. Pitiful, absolutely pitiful."  
  
"BASTARD!!!" Mikal shot himself straight at the monster that hurt his friend, he was throwing everything he had at him, to no avail.  
  
Pan and Guy immediately jumped in to help Mikal, but the combined force of all three of them was not enough. Nijunigou simply dodged and blocked everything they could throw at him with a bored look on his face. He evened yawned as they did so.  
  
Pan broke off her attack, "You bored then huh!? Well take this!" Guy and Mikal broke away as well and joined in Pan's assault.  
  
"KAME..." As the three said in unison, performing the same technique.  
  
"No (cough)... Don't..." Kyushinhan coughed up in a voice that was lower than a whisper none of them could hear.  
  
"HAME..."  
  
"He'll absorb them... (cough, cough, cough)" He whimpered spitting up even more blood as he did so.  
  
"HAAAAAAA!!!" The three of them all fired simultaneous Kamehameha's directly at Nijunigou. The three bright blue beams of energy collided with the Jinzouningen and exploded. But it wasn't like any other explosion they had ever seen before. It was swirling and whirling around in the air like a tornado. Suddenly Pan realized what had happened.  
  
"Oh no, he couldn't have..." She said to herself  
  
"What's he doing!?" yelled Guy  
  
"Look, he's absorbing our Kamehameha's!" She pointed  
  
As Guy and Mikal looked on, their faces showed their fear quite evidently. Nijunigou had his hands out in front of him and the combined energies were being sucked into his hands like water down a drain. And then, it vanished.  
  
"Hmph." Nijunigou smirked. "Weak... It almost wasn't even worth the effort. Hehehe..."  
  
He then focused he gaze upon the weakest of the group and grinned. Mikal felt a cold and terrifying fear run down his spine.  
  
"I'll kill you first." spoke the beast 


	18. Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN  
  
"Bulma are we there yet?" asked Oolong  
  
"Hai, almost just a few more minutes and we'll be home." Said Bulma  
  
"I hope nothing bad is happening right now. Master Roshi are you sure about you said earlier?" asked Chi-Chi  
  
"Yes very much so, except now I'm afraid that the Ki signature that I felt earlier is gone." He replied  
  
"Gone! What do you mean gone?" she asked  
  
"I mean gone... I can't feel it at all now. But now I feel three more Ki levels. They're not as powerful as the first one I felt, but they are strong. I just hope that I'm wrong about the first Ki signature being gone. Because that could only mean that, well, that person is dead."  
  
"Dead?" said Puar  
  
"Hai, I'm afraid so. I can only hope that I'm wrong about that though. Perhaps that person is still alive but is so weak that I can no longer detect him. But... I can't say for sure..."  
  
"Master, can you tell who the other three Ki levels you felt are?" asked Ox King  
  
"No..."  
  
Bulma and Chi-Chi could only look at each other with dread in their hearts. There was a long silence in the hover copter, however as they finally made it to New Capitol City and the Capsule Corp logo became visible over the horizon, the mood started to pick up again, if only slightly.  
  
Bulma noticed that Pan's car was in the driveway. "Oi look, it's Pan's car! Maybe she brought everyone here after all and what Master Roshi if sensing are other people."  
  
"I hope so." Uttered Chi-Chi  
  
As they landed in the driveway and exited the hover copter, everyone noticed the car still running with door wide open.  
  
"Nani? What's this all about." Said Chi-Chi  
  
"Look the doors open!" shouted Bulma  
  
As they all ran inside, they saw Lunch sitting there in the room on the couch with the TV turned on, her cheeks had tears streaks on them and she was wiping her face with a tissue. She turned her head and saw all of them coming towards her and jumped up.  
  
"Oh thank Kami you're all here!" she ran to them "Master Roshi, Oolong, Puar it's good to see you again." She said with a small smile  
  
"Lunch what's going on here?" Bulma asked  
  
"Don't you know?"  
  
"Know what?"  
  
"Well look for yourselves. It's been all over the TV and the radio this morning."  
  
"We didn't have our radio turned on." Said Bulma as they walked into the living room and on the couch and chairs to see the news reports.  
  
_"This is Hidari Migi again for ZTV News, our final reports are in ladies and gentlemen, and yes, it is confirmed... 11,546 people have been killed and 2,167more are serious injured in West Island City. The hospitals are being overrun and relief effort are underway as we speak."_  
  
"Oh dear, what happened lunch?" asked Chi-Chi  
  
Before Lunch started to explain Bulma got up and went to the phone and dialed in a number to her medical personal at Capsule Corp and informed them to send as many people to West Island City to help aid in the relief efforts with doctors and their newly designed regeneration tanks. After a minute Bulma returned to the living room with the others and listened to Lunches explanation of what has been going on this morning.  
  
"It's the Jinzouningen, I don't know how Chi-Chi, but they are back."  
  
The room fell so silent you could hear a pin drop.  
  
"But that's not possible... Trunks killed them all. He even destroyed Dr. Gero's lab in the Forest Mountains just to make sure that there weren't anymore."  
  
"I don't know how it happened Bulma, but it did... Kyushinhan saw the news report as everything was happening this morning and took off to fight it. I couldn't stop him."  
  
"Oh my, Lunch... I'm sure your son can take care of himself, he's very strong." Said Chi-Chi trying to reassure Lunch.  
  
"That's not all, after Kyushinhan took off, Pan and the two boys showed up at our house and then they took after him to help him. Pan gave me her car to come here and tell all of you." She sobbed  
  
"Pan! You mean Pan, Mikal and Guy took off to fight him too?"  
  
"Hai."  
  
"No, no please... She's not strong enough, she'll be killed!" Chi-Chi said, she was starting to shake all over her body. The thought of losing her grand daughter was more than she could bear.  
  
[Hmm, if the first Ki I felt was her son,] Master Roshi was thinking to himself, [then he's most likely dead by now. I can't tell that, she'd never be able to deal with it. But that would mean that the other three Ki's would be this Pan person and the boys that were with her. Kami help them... They don't stand a chance... Wait a minute, if the first Ki I felt was her son and the other three are his friends, then...] Master Roshi looked around, as he felt another powerful Ki signature moving extremely fast towards the others.  
  
"Bulma, where's Trunks?" he asked  
  
Bulma was shocked that she hadn't noticed before. Trunks was gone.  
  
"I was going to tell you," said Lunch "I came here and told everything that was happening and asked him to help them. I'm sorry Bulma, but he's the only one strong enough to fight those things."  
  
"You don't have to apologize for anything Lunch, Trunks can handle himself, and believe me, he will destroy those Jinzouningen once and for all this time." She said confidently, but on the inside she was terrified at what might happen.  
  
"Um Bulma..." whispered Puar as he floated next to Bulma's ear so the other wouldn't hear. "I don't mean to be rude or insensitive but... Who's Pan and the two boys Lunch was talking about?"  
  
"That's okay Puar, you're don't have to worry." Bulma replied in a normal voice. "Pan is Gohan's daughter, Chi-Chi's grand daughter, and the other two are Mikal and Guy. They're brothers, and they've been living here with Trunks and me. Trunks has been training all of them for a long time now."  
  
"Oh." Puar replied, suddenly the news report caught their attention again.  
  
_"Ladies and Gentlemen we have finally been able to identify the mysterious young warrior who challenged the Jinzouningen earlier today. Reports came in from Big Mountain City and have confirmed that the young man you see here, (A still frame of Kyushinhan appeared on the screen from when he first entered the city and face Nijunigou.), is named Kyushinhan Meal."_  
--------------------------------------------  
"I'll kill you first."  
  
Mikal instantly shot a series of high-powered Ki blasts at Nijunigou. The blasts however were ineffective as Nijunigou simply went right through them all and swatted Mikal like a fly and sent him crashing through what little trees remained in the battlefield. Everything happened so fast that Pan and Guy didn't even have time to react before Mikal crashed into the trees. After wards however, the two of them re-assaulted Nijunigou with all of their fury. They launched themselves at him with punches and kicks that would have annihilated a mountainside.  
  
Turning around faster than they could blink, Nijunigou was suddenly had both of their head in his hands and collided them together, knocking them out. As they fell from the sky to fall in the same crater as his earlier opponent, he turned his attention back to his kill target. Mikal had picked a massive tree trunk as he flew in the air and hurled it at Nijunigou with everything his muscles would allow.  
  
Ginning slightly, "Inventive little brat, not good enough." As head move his head aside to dodge the tree trunk, it suddenly exploded right next to his face. Sending out large amount of wooden shrapnel and fragments penetrating his skin. It took him by surprise at how clever his attack really was, this little brat had managed to actually cause some small amount of damage to him.  
  
"Well, well, well..." said Nijunigou as picked out the piece of wood from his body. "It seems that you're smarter than I gave you credit for.  
  
"Up yours!!" shouted Mikal  
  
Taking offense to that statement, Nijunigou disappeared from Mikal's range of vision, and within an instant there was loud crashing blow directly in Mikal's chest.  
  
Mikal felt his entire chest cavity collapse in on itself and the fractured bones punctured his lungs causing Mikal to vomit great amounts of blood from his mouth and nose. His eyes were as wide as softballs and the wind was completely knocked out of him so he couldn't scream from pain at this point.  
  
Taking great pleasure in this, Nijunigou grabbed his victim by the throat and started to slap him across the face from side to side, toying with him.  
  
All the while Mikal struggled like a worm on hook, punching and kicking desperately. He punched at his arms and legs; his blows had no power in them as his lungs were being filled with blood.  
  
Nijunigou then released his dieing sheep just long enough for him to bring both his arms up and clap his hands together on either side of Mikal's head. "ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Rupturing his eardrums and cracking his skull on both sides, blood gushed freely from his ears and the open fractures on his head.  
  
He felt all his energy leave his body as he began to fall out of the air, but he was suddenly caught by the scruff of his shirt as Nijunigou pulled him up one last time. Looking at the murdering beast through blood soaked eyes, Mikal decided on one last act of defiance to wipe that smug look off of the monster's face. He could feel the blood running down his face and chest; he knew he was dieing. His clothes were soaked red with his blood, gathering up some blood in his mouth he raised his head and stared at the Jinzouningen, and spit it right in his face. The Jinzouningen's reaction of having human blood being spat in his face was comical and he started to laugh, but it sound wasn't laughter that was produced, more of a deep gurgling sound as he choked on his own blood.  
  
The screams woke Guy and Pan from unconsciousness, their heads were in great pain and bleeding from the temples on opposite sides. They were in the same crater as Kyushinhan who now completely in a coma like state. As they slowly got out of their cradle like position, Guy looked op to see his little brother in the clutches of the Jinzouningen as he reared his giant fist and plunged it completely through Mikal's chest. Large pieces of flesh, bones, and internal organs came flying out the back of his body as he went completely limp and lifeless.  
  
"Mikal... NO!! NOOOOOOOOO!! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!"  
  
Pan looked up, wiping the blood away to see Nijunigou fist pull back out of Mikal's body. He then dropped him into the very same crater with the other three. Guy jumped up as fast as he could and caught his little brother's lifeless body. As guy looked into Mikal's still opened eyes, he began to cry heavily. Tears, remorse, and guilt filled his soul as he gently laid his brother's body on the ground. He felt so fragile as he did so; Guy knelt next to his little brother and closed his eyes with his hand. Remorse was instantly replaced with rage and hatred.  
  
"ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Guy screamed at the top of his lungs as he launched himself like a rocket at his brother's murderer. He was now acting completely on autopilot with one thought in mind, to kill the thing that murdered his little brother. Initiating a violent barrage of punches and kicks, he was throwing his entire being into destroying the Jinzouningen. His strikes were being blocked and dodged with little effort on Nijunigou's part. Guy got his face up close to Nijunigou's and spit directly in both of his eyes, causing him to close them for a few seconds. Taking this opportunity of temporarily blinding his enemy, Guy again launched a violent series of attacks, This time every blow were making their way through, as each blow landed, he'd curse at the monster.  
  
"YOU SON OF A BITCH, HE WAS MY LITTLE BROTHER!! I SWEAR ON MY VERY SOUL I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!" He screamed "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!" He screamed over and over again, each time digging his fists a little bit deeper.  
  
After wiping away the saliva from his eyes, Nijunigou swung his foot and kicked Guy higher into the air. "What is it with you pieces of garbage and spitting?"  
  
He was answered by a furious bombardment of Ki attacks. One after the other, Guy would fire a Ki blast aimed for Nijunigou. Unfortunately only a small portion were getting passed his defenses. About ninety-nine percent of his attacks were being knocked away to be sent crashing onto the surrounding landscape. The ground exploded and shuttered as each of the Ki blasts rained down upon the earth, and the ones that were hitting him, did little or no damage what so ever. Each time Nijunigou would block one of his Ki blasts, it would only infuriate him even further; completely blinded by rage, Guy wasn't thinking clearly. He was fighting sloppy, telegraphing his every move before he executed them.  
  
"MURDERER!!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as he powered up his Ki. "KAME-HAME..."  
  
"Hmph, this one again? Haven't you learned yet?"  
  
"HAAAAAA!!!" The amount of energy Guy forced into his Kamehamaha was enough to destroy half the planet if it were to collide with it; but he didn't care, he wasn't thinking about the rest of the planet right now. Right now, the only thought on his mind was revenge.  
  
As Guy's battle in the air with Nijunigou raged on, Pan remained on the ground, cradling Mikal's body next to hers. Wrapped in her arms, he felt so fragile. Her clothes had become stained with his blood as she held his head ever so gingerly next to her chest. Streams of warm, flowing tears ran down her face, and lumps formed in her throat. She could still remember the very first day she met Mikal. She was only eleven years old, right after her mother had been killed, and Mikal had been the first person who'd made her laugh in a very long. Pan unconsciously started to rock back and forth just slightly; the same way a mother would rock her newborn baby.  
  
"It'll be okay... It'll be okay... It'll be okay..." She whimpered and sobbed. Denial had hit her hard, Mikal was her best friend and she couldn't believe he was actually gone.  
  
She was in this catatonic state for several minutes, but to her, it seemed like ages. With the reality of her present situation slowly seeping in, she laid his body down to rest on the blood soaked earth and kissed his forehead. Snapping her towards the sky, flames of white hot Ki blazed around her as she propelled herself into the current battle. Positioning herself next to Guy, she joined him in his fight to avenge Mikal's death.  
  
"KAME-HAME HAAAA!!!!" She screamed pouring all of her energy into the single Kamehameha blast. Uniting hers with Guy's, the combined power of the two beams would have been more than enough to puncture a hole straight through the entire, destroying it in the process.  
  
However, even with their merged powers, Nijunigou simply held off the Kamehameha with a single hand. He had decided not to absorb the energy this time around, instead, he wanted these pathetic humans the futility of their efforts by keeping their beams at bay with one hand. Not even flinching an eyebrow as he did so.  
  
Sweat beaded off of Pan and Guy's foreheads as the continuous ray of the Kamhameha's began to drain their reserves. Breaking off his Ki, Guy rocketed forward to fight the Jinzouningen fist to fist. As Pan dissipated her beam, she decided to flank Nijunigou on his left. Simultaneously they had both struck Nijunigou in his face, sourly, again with no apparent outward effect. Instead he just hovered there in place, chuckling to himself.  
  
"Weaklings!" he shouted, and punched Guy in his massive chest with the palm of his hand. Sending him flying backwards nearly 1,000 yards, cracking his breastplate. Meanwhile at the same time, seizing Pan by her wrist and swinging her over his head like a lasso, and launched her like a speeding bullet directly at her companion.  
  
Just barely able to himself from the force of Nijunigou's strike to his chest, he was caught off guard as the shock from Pan impacting his chest knocked the wind out of his lungs and cracked his breast plat even more. On the same note however, Pan's shoulder had become dislocated due to the same collision. Both of which had temporarily lost their ability to fly and started to fall. Regaining his breath however, Guy managed to right himself and stop his descent, and caught Pan from falling any further by her bad arm.  
  
"Arghhh!" she screamed and the loud "Pop" relocated her shoulder into position. Slowly gaining altitude, she held her bad shoulder, just as Guy held onto his chest. Grimacing from the pain, the fatigue from fighting was taking it's toll on both young warriors.  
  
"As I said before..." Nijunigou chimed in as he floated closer and closer to the two fighters, "Weaklings! You're all nothing but a race of weaklings! And to think that one of you was actually capable of defeating the likes of us so long ago, it's almost unthinkable." Just as he was ready to perform his final attack and kill the two remaining combatants in one decisive blow, his sensors beeped on... And smiled...  
  
Turning his head away from them, looking towards the southeast, he muttered the name of the target he has been waiting for this whole time... "Trunks!!" 


	19. Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN  
  
Trunks was flying across the noon sky at an incredible speed; as he passed over the ocean far below him, the force of the winds being created by his wake cause the oceans to rise and part like the Red Sea. He was only minutes away from the battle being fought ahead, however, he could feel that Kyushinhan was at a dangerously, and possibly fatal power level. If he wasn't nursed to health soon, he could die. Suddenly there was a sharp flash that ripped through his mind; one of the three remaining power levels had just vanished.  
  
"Oh no... NO!" He screamed... It was Mikal; he couldn't sense him any more... He was too late; Mikal was dead. "NOOOOO!!!"  
  
Trunks shot himself into overdrive as he exploded with speed. Going faster and faster until he thought his skin would rip away. The wake from his Ki was starting to cause atmospherical disturbances, not only were the oceans forming into 2,000 ft high tidal waves, but the very sky itself warped as he passed. The clouds were being pulled along his flight path and were causing large pockets of vacuum to be formed.  
  
"No, how could I have let this happen... Not again!!"  
  
As Trunks finally crossed the land, he honed in on Pan and Guy; they were starting to lose their power and get weak. Getting closer and closer to his destination, he did something that he hasn't done in the last seven and a half years...  
-----------------------------------------------  
"Trunks..."  
  
Pan's eyes widened, "Trunks... Trunks is coming?"  
  
Nijunigou ignored her and concentrated on the incoming power signal that was approaching his location from the southeast.  
  
"I don't care if Trunks is coming or not! This bastard is mine!" and Guy hurled himself at his brother's killer.  
  
"Guy wait!!" yelled Pan, but it was too late. Guy was already rearing up his fist to deliver a powerful strike; but his attempt was in vain.  
  
Nijunigou saw his attack coming from a mile away and thrust his massive elbow directly into Guy's sternum. The wind was completely knocked out of Guy's lungs as he hacked up a mixture of bile and spit. Spinning around 360 degrees like a tornado, Nijunigou backhanded Guy and sent him whirling through the air like a top.  
  
Pan moved in fast, intercepting him, and caught him from spinning out of control. His equilibrium out of whack, Guy was unable to focus in and regain his sense of balance, however he was still able to stay levitated in the air with a bit of luck. But then, off in the distance, they could see a bright yellow light coming their way.  
  
Suddenly the sound of a loud sonic boom, "BOOM", echoed throughout the battlefield. The tremendous backlash of the wind blew pass Pan and Guy as they struggled to keep their place, the air was cold and it cracked their skin. As the gale calmed down, the two of them looked ahead and stared at the new comer to the battle. Glowing flames of yellow Ki energy surged around his body, his hair was yellow and spiked upwards, and his eyes were shimmering a brilliant green. Dressed in blue sweat shorts, a pair of sneakers and a white tank top, he somehow looked very familiar to Pan. Guy on the other hand couldn't care less, as far as he was concerned, this man was just another person interfering with his fight. But then a flash of recognition went through Pan's mind. [Trunks...] she thought.  
  
"Trunks." Said Nijunigou.  
  
Trunks remained silent; he only stared at his enemy. He had never seen this model before, not even in the past. His only conclusion was that this one was either an earlier model than the ones he had previously encountered, or it might be a new one instead. Surveying the immediate surroundings, he spotted Pan and Guy hovering nearly a thousand feet away, beaten and tired. As he continued to look around he noticed two bodies on the ground below him, in the center of a recently created crater. His heart nearly jumped in his throat as he distinguished who they were.  
  
"No... Kyushinhan... Mikal..." he whispered to himself. The his attention snapped back at Nijunigou, and without even looking at the other two "Pan! Guy! Take them to West Island City hospital right now, Kyushinhan is extremely weak but he's still alive! I'll handle this thing..."  
  
"Nani? Who the hell are you!?" Guy shouted  
  
"He's Trunks! Now let's just do what he says Guy before it's too late." Yelled Pan  
  
[Trunks huh? Hmph, then why the hell weren't you here earlier "Great One?"] He hissed to himself. But as the two lowered to the ground Guy was nearly swept away by tears, tears that hadn't flowed since the death of his parents. He knelt besides Mikal's body and brushed his hair back away from his face.  
  
Pan struggled to lift Kyushinhan's limp body from the ground, she managed to hike him up and throw one his arms over her shoulders, and was tapped from behind. Turning around, she saw Guy with Mikal's body in his arms.  
  
"Here... You better carry him. I'll take care of Kyushinhan." He said quietly  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Hai, I am... You'll have better luck flying with Mikal and with Kyushinhan. Besides... he was your best friend..."  
  
"But he was your brother." She said somberly  
  
"I know... Still, you should probably take him instead."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Guy handed Mikal to Pan as he grabbed Kyushinhan from her and lifted him into both of his arms with ease, and shortly afterwards they took to the air to West Island City.  
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_"This is Hidari Migi again, our remote cameras are almost at their destination. We have picked up long explosions and flashes of coming from the battlefield. We can only hope to Kami that this man, whom we have identified earlier as Kyushinhan Meal, is still able to hold his own against the Jinzouningen and... WHOA!! What was that? Ladies and gentlemen, as you have just witnessed, it seems that something has just flown by our cameras at incredible speed and spun them temporarily off course... We'll try to see if we can capture and digitally analyze the frames so we can see what it was that flew by our cameras in a few moments, as for now our technicians are programming our cameras back towards the battlefield."_  
  
"What was that?" asked Chi-Chi  
  
"I don't know." Replied Bulma  
  
"Hmm..."  
  
"What is it Master Roshi?" asked Puar  
  
"Well, if I'm right... I believe that those streaks we just saw were actually two of our companions leaving the fight." He answered  
  
"Nani? Which two?" said Bulma  
  
"Well, the two lowest powers that I have sensed so far... Actually, they're the only low power levels I can still feel; one of the other low Ki powers has vanished... I'm afraid that whoever the Ki belonged too, is dead..."  
  
The room went silent...  
  
"Dead... No... No that's not possible, they can't be dead..." said Lunch  
  
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid they are. I was focusing harder on the battle that was occurring, and it appears that one of them has died, and the other Ki signature that I thought was gone earlier, is extremely faint, on the very brink of death." Said Master Roshi  
  
"Oh no..." Lunch started to sob.  
------------------------------------------------  
As his two young students left the combat zone, Trunks focused his gaze on the Monster that injured and killed his friends.  
  
"Jinzouningen..." he grimaced  
  
"Trunks... So you finally decided to show yourself." Nijunigou smirked  
  
"I destroyed your predecessors Jinzouningen, and I'll destroy you too!" Trunks declared  
  
"You're certainly welcome to try! Even though I wasn't constructed to hunt you down specifically, it is still apart of my main programming and my goal to do just that, Trunks!" and fired several, extremely powerful blasts of energy at Trunks that could have easily destroyed entire cities.  
  
Trunks merely blocked them all with one hand and threw each of the energy blasts into the sky beyond the clouds. Without even blinking Trunks fired a potent Ki blast of his own directly into Nijunigou's left shoulder, obliterating it into a thousands pieces of metal and circuits, his left arm whirling to the ground.  
  
"I told you Jinzouningen, I will destroy you the way I did your predecessors! You can't possibly defeat me!" yelled Trunks  
  
Holding on to his decimated left shoulder, jolts of electricity flashed and sparked as he did so, Nijunigou raised his head to meet the cold gaze of his nemesis.  
  
"It doesn't matter if you destroy me baka... There will be others... Even right now the super computer is analyzing your every move. Hehehe!! It will send others to kill you!"  
  
Disturbed by this statement, Trunks launched himself at the Jinzouningen and drove his right fist all the way through it's chest, emerging on the other side. Giant bolts of electricity crackled and flashed as Nijunigou attempted to punch Trunks in the head with his remaining hand. Trunks simply grabbed Nijunigou's arm by the wrist, and with great strength, ripped the arm right out of the socket. As pieces of robotic circuitry and wires spilled out of the tear in the right shoulder, Trunks pulled his own arm out of Nijunigou's chest.  
  
With a huge, gaping hole in the Jinzouningen chest, Trunks used it's arm like a baseball bat, he reared up and swung directly at the thing's head. Striking it at full tilt, the Jinzouningen's head was rocketed off it's shoulders and neck, and was sent flying across the landscape as it crashed into a thicket of trees a mile away. The body no longer powered up and operating, fell to the ground with an amazing loud thud as it collided with the earth below.  
  
As Trunks looked down upon the body of his fallen enemy, his started to raise his hands and a glowing yellow ball of Ki formed in his palms. [No wait... this thing said that there will be others... It'll probably be a better idea to hide the pieces right now and come back for them later and let Okaa- san take a look at them.] He thought to himself. Lowering himself to the ground, he picked up the massive remains of the torso and arms and was about to lift off when he noticed a slight buzzing sounds from nearby. Looking towards the sky he saw where the noises were coming from, [Kuso, remote TV cameras... Better make this quick before they see me!], and with flash of blinding Ki, he was gone.  
---------------------------------------------------  
_"Ladies and Gentlemen, our remote cameras have finally reached their destination and... Wow! Look at the damage and destruction of the surrounding area. It has been turned from a lush and fertile plain to a desolate wasteland of craters and debris..."_  
  
"Chi-Chi, Bulma look!" shouted Lunch  
  
"Oh my Kami..." Chi-Chi gasped  
  
As the rest of the group stared at the images being beamed by the remote cameras, it relayed the resulting destruction of the recent battle with the Jinzouningen. Suddenly there was a bright flash on the screen...  
  
_"Whoa!! Nani? What was that?" as the cameras panned, tilted, and scrolled across the battlefield, there was nothing to be seen. "Ladies and gentlemen I don't know what that was, but it is clear that whatever that flash was, it is no longer there... And there is no sign of the brave young man we saw engaged in combat with that murdering monster earlier."  
_  
As the news reporter for ZTV News went on with the story of the decade, everyone else in the room was silent, listening intently.  
  
"What do you think happened to everyone?" asked Puar  
  
"What do you mean? Oolong asked him back  
  
"If everyone was supposed to be out there fighting it, then where are they now?"  
  
"Hmm..." Master Roshi sighed  
  
"What is it Master?" asked Ox King  
  
"I'm not sure Ox my boy, There is still one power level I can currently feel, flying away from the battlefield, and the other two seemed to have powered down somewhat to normal. I can barely get a reading on them."  
  
"What is that supposed to mean? Where are they then?" asked Chi-Chi  
  
"Well..." But before Master Roshi could answer the phone suddenly rang. Everyone jumped at the same time and Bulma ran to the phone and picked it up.  
  
"Hello... Pan! Where are you? ... The Hospital!" everyone gasped and then went silent again. "What happened? Is everyone okay? ... Oh no... And what about..." Bulma raised a hand to her mouth and her eyes watered with tears. "No, no it can't be..."  
  
As Bulma was speaking with Pan, Lunch walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder, with dread in her heart. "Bulma, what is? What's happened?" her hands were shaking.  
  
"Lunch..." she said sobbing, "I have some bad news..."  
--------------------------------------------------------  
The halls of the West Island City hospital were full of patients. Writhing in pain and suffering, the wounded were still being brought in to be treated by doctors and nurses, and the dead were being sent to the morgue, which was now completely over stocked with dead bodies. The hospital had to convert the basement as a makeshift morgue; with portable cooling systems so the bodies wouldn't decompose as fast.  
  
When they arrived at the hospital they were lucky in that only the most critically injured, those close to death, were the only ones being allowed to be put in the regeneration tanks. Everyone else with non-fatal injuries had to be treated the old fashioned way. Kyushinhan was taken by a group of doctors and nurses on a gurney to regeneration room where he was placed in the last tank that was available. However, Mikal was placed in a body bag and brought down the morgue. Guy followed them down against the protest of the hospital staff; they didn't protest for that long though, they had more important things to worry about than someone following them down to the morgue.  
  
Pan stayed with Kyushinhan and watched as the technicians went over each and every one of the tanks checking and rechecking the readouts. One of the nurses in the regeneration room bandaged up Pan's wounds on her head and gave her some painkillers for the rest of her symptoms, and hastily bolted out of the room to come to the aid of another doctor calling for assistance. As she looked around, she counted somewhere around two dozen regeneration tanks in this room alone. No doubt there were many other rooms in the hospital with regeneration tanks in them as well; and as she counted, she could see the people inside. Some with missing limbs, others with gigantic open lacerations in their bodies. One after the other, every single patient was on the brink of death. She wanted to go out and look for Guy to see how he was doing, but decided against it. One, she didn't want to get in the way of the doctors; and two, she felt that Guy most likely didn't want to be bothered right now anyway.  
  
Pan spotted a telephone on the wall next to the open door and decided to call Chi-Chi and let her know that she was okay. Picking up the receiver she dialed the number, but after fifteen or twenty rings, she came to the conclusion that there was no one home. Hanging up the receiver she then decided to call Bulma, this time after the first ring, there was answer on the other end...  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Bulma-san, it's Pan."  
  
"Pan! Where are you?"  
  
"At West Island City Hospital."  
  
"The Hospital! What happened? Is everyone okay?"  
  
Pan started to mumble and sob as she tried to force the words passed her throat, "I'm fine and so is Guy but... Kyushinhan is hurt really bad... He's in a regeneration tank..." she sobbed  
  
"Oh no... And what about..."  
  
Pan cut her off before she could finish the sentence, "But Mikal... Oh Kami, Bulma... Mikal..." She started to cry, "Mikal's dead Bulma..." This time the tears were running freely from her eyes down her cheeks.  
  
"No, no it can't be..." Said Bulma, just then Pan hear on the other end, what sounded like Lunches voice saying something but she couldn't really make it out. Bulma answered her and Pan could pick out something about Kyushinhan and Mikal. She was probably telling Lunch what she just told Bulma; and then she could hear crying and screaming.  
  
"Pan-chan..." Bulma's voice was shaking, "What about Trunks, is he okay?"  
  
"I don't know..." her own voice was choking as the events played over and over again in her mind, "He came in when we were fighting and told us to leave... He's still out there Bulma fighting that... that... that monster."  
  
"The news reports just said that there is no sign of anyone at the place where you were fighting."  
  
"Then I hope that Trunks killed that damned thing for good!" shouted Pan  
  
Bulma was silent on the line for a short moment, "I hope so too Pan-chan... I hope so too... Pan Lunch wants to talk to you."  
  
"Hai." Said Pan  
  
"Pan-chan, how is he? How's Kyushinhan?" she asked shakily  
  
Pan could hear the fear in her voice as she answered back, "Not good Lunch- san... He's still in critical condition right now, but they have him in one of the regeneration tanks. We're lucky that Bulma-san was able to figure out a way to make those things work for normal people other wise..." her voice trailed off as she tried to shake the horrible thoughts of what could've happened from her mind. "I'm sorry Lunch-san, I didn't mean to worry you..."  
  
"But he's going to make it right?"  
  
"Hai, I don't that at all..." she replied trying to uplift Lunch's spirit as well as her own, "He's a really strong fighter, I don't think he's going to give up now." Faking a somber smile, even though there was no one there to see it.  
  
"Hai, I think so to... Arigato Pan-chan... Chi-Chi wants to talk to you too."  
  
"Hai."  
  
"Pan-chan." Said Chi-Chi  
  
"Grandma..." a lump formed in her throat  
  
"Pan-chan! Oh Kami! Are you okay dear? Are you hurt?"  
  
"I'm okay grandma, the nurse put a bandage on my wounds and she gave me some medicine."  
  
"Wounds!! What kinds of wounds!?" her worry and anxiety clearly stated  
  
"It's okay grandma, it was just a head injury, but the nurse said I was going to be fine..."  
  
"A head injury!"  
  
"I'm alright grandma, really I am."  
  
"Well... If you say so... I was just so scared that I would never see you again... I just found you and I couldn't bear to think of losing you too..." At this point Chi-Chi lost all control and started to cry over the phone.  
  
"But you didn't lose me grandma..." Pan's own control was starting to waiver, "I'm still here... I'm going to be here for a very long time, I promise."  
  
"I believe you Pan-chan," she sniffled and tried to get her emotions under control, "I believe you..."  
  
"Arigato grandma." Pan sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes. 


	20. Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN  
  
Trunks had taken the remains to the woods where he discovered Nijunigou's lifeless head and buried them not far from there. Now on his way to West Island City, he decided to finally power down from his Super Saiya-jin state and find the hospital where Pan and Guy are. He kept playing the images over in his mind; Kyushinhan's broken and beaten body... Mikal's corpse... The look of Pan and Guy as he entered the battle, another few minutes and they would've been along side Kyushinhan and Mikal.  
  
[Damn it!!] He cursed himself, [Kuso! How could I have lapsed so much in my training! I should have detected the battle when it first began! I should have been here to stop the whole damn thing from happening!! All of those people died for no reason, they died because I wasn't doing my job... I got to comfortable, to relaxed... I liked the peace and quiet, everyone was starting to actually make a comeback and lead productive lives again. The fear had melted away and I let my guard down!] "Damn it Trunks!! It's all your fault!!" he screamed at himself. The rage and grief was building up greatly in his heart, and he put his hand over it as if to stop it from exploding.  
  
As Trunks neared West Island City, he could see the smoldering flames rising from the city. Most of the fires had been put out by the fire departments; however, the thick black clouds of smoke could be seen for miles. Flying through the clouds of smoke he approached the hospital, luckily no one noticed him landing because everyone was busy with more important matters.  
  
Trunks rushed into the hospital, there were doctors and nurses everywhere, running from one patient to another, treating wounds of the injured people and carting of the dead.  
  
Sprinting to the front desk he inquired about his friends, "Excuse me but I'm looking for some friends of mine."  
  
"What are their names?" asked the nurse behind the desk  
  
"Pan and Guy, they were carrying two other with them..."  
  
As Trunks was at the front desk inquiring about his friends, Pan happened to walk out of the room and noticed Trunks down the end of the hall.  
  
"Trunks!!" she shouted  
  
Trunks looked up from the desk and saw Pan, "Pan!!" He ran down the hallway, dodging all the doctors to get to her.  
  
Pan met him halfway and she threw herself at him clutching her arms around his neck, and began to cry on his shoulders. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her close to him and kissed her on her cheek. Normally he would be somewhat embarrassed in this situation and be blushing by now, however, it didn't matter now. He was just so happy to see that was all right, and he was afraid to let her go. They stood there in the hallway embracing each other for what seemed, to the two of them, like hours; when in fact it had actually only been several minutes.  
  
Finally pulling away from each other Trunks was the first to speak, "Pan, are you okay?"  
  
"Hai... What about you? You fought that monster by yourself and..."  
  
"I'm okay Pan, I'm okay... What about the other?"  
  
"Kyushinhan is in the regeneration tank right now, Guy went with the other doctors with Mikal to the morgue... I haven't seen him since... I think he wants to be alone with Mikal right now..."  
  
"I understand, we should give him his privacy... Let's go see how Kyushinhan is doing." Said Trunks. Unconsciously wrapping his arm around her waist, they walked together to the regeneration room was Kyushinhan was healing. As they entered Trunks scanned the area, he counted two dozen tanks in the room; seven lining up on three of the walls, and three more on the wall next to the entrance door. In the center of the room there were several small sofas and coffee tables with old magazines and potted plants on them. There were also several people in the room sitting on these sofas, all of them looking hurt, tired, and scared; obviously relatives or friends of the people in the tanks. A few technicians went from one tank to another checking the controls and readouts on each tank, taking notes of the progress of each patient.  
  
Trunks led Pan to an open spot on one of the sofas and they sat down, or more accurately, collapsed in them. Leaning back in the sofa couch and without even realizing it, Trunks slid his arm up to her shoulders and held her close to him, while Pan gently rested her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around his mid section. Pan was extremely fatigued and drifted off to sleep within a matter of minutes.  
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Guy on the other hand, was not drifting off to sleep as she did; in fact he was completely wide-awake. Sitting in the basement of the hospital, which has been turned into a temporary morgue, he sat next to the body of his dead brother. Mikal's remains were sealed in a black body next to hundreds of other bodies. Resting on a wooden crate he used as his makeshift chair, Guy was contemplating his life. The early years before their parents died, the years after when he took care of his little brother, the times after their falling out when they separated and became enemies, and finally, getting back together with him for the short time they spent at Capsule Corp.  
  
They were finally becoming brothers again; their animosities towards each other were beginning to fade away, though not completely. It was a work in progress, Guy didn't have the chance to say he was sorry, and now he never will. He just sat there in his own thoughts, still dressed in his ruined leather jacket, torn and ripped shirt and jeans, with the blood stained of his face. The nurse tried to clean his cut and wipe the blood away from his forehead, but he simply pushed her aside when the doctors laid Mikal's body down. He simply didn't want to be bothered by anyone, not even by the people who were starting to feel like his new friends, he just wanted to be alone.  
-----------------------------------------------  
Slowly opening his eyes, the lights in the regeneration room caused him to squint. Realizing that he fell asleep, Trunks looked over to his side to see that Pan was still napping with her head on his chest. Lightly brushing away a few strands of hair from her face, he noticed how beautiful she looked; her silken ebony hair, a gorgeous, angelic face, and soft, olive- colored skin. With her body pressed against his, he started to feel a warm sensation come over him, he's never actually been this close to Pan before, but he liked the way it made him feel. Trunks smiled warmly at the sleeping beauty before him, just as he heard a voice from behind.  
  
"I was wondering when you'd wake up." said the voice quietly  
  
"Ano?" As Trunks turned his head slightly, he saw Guy sitting directly behind the two of them, leaning back in the sofa with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Guy... How are you?" he asked softly as not to disturb Pan  
  
"Alive..."  
  
"How long have I been asleep?"  
  
"I don't know, I've only been in here for twenty minutes..."  
  
"Guy..." Trunks gulped slightly as he tried to think of the right words to say, "Guy I... I'm sorry about what happened to Mikal... If I had only gotten there sooner then may..."  
  
Guy cut him off in mid sentence, "It wasn't your fault... We all went in with the same intentions of fighting that thing... We just weren't strong enough..."  
  
Trunks sat silent for several minutes staring up at the ceiling, not knowing what to say. But then Guy finally spoke up and broke the awkward stillness between them. "Trunks..."  
  
"Hai..."  
  
"What was that, back there with you? I mean... You looked different. I've never seen you like that before." He asked  
  
"That's what I look like when I change from my normal form into a Super Saiya-jin. It's a very powerful transformation..."  
  
Guy was quiet for a few seconds, contemplating his answer, "So that's apart of your Saiya-jin heritage then?"  
  
"Hai."  
  
"Can humans change into more powerful forms?" asked Guy  
  
"I don't know... I've never seen it happen myself, but I suppose that it is possible. Every species has a limit of power in their natural state, and are forced to change into another form in order to accommodate for more power." Trunks answered. He didn't know the exact science behind the metamorphosis into other forms, but he knew the basis behind it all.  
  
"Trunks..." said Guy  
  
"Hai?"  
  
"Is there anyway you can train me to become as powerful as you?"  
  
"I honestly don't know if humans can become as powerful as Saiya-jins Guy... From my experience, humans were always considerably weaker than when it came to power on such a vast scale."  
  
"Then what about Kyushinhan?"  
  
"He's come from a strong human blood line. His father was unimaginably powerful compared to other humans... He was a honorable man..." Said Trunks still staring at the ceiling  
  
"I thought he died when you were a baby..."  
  
Trunks cursed himself internally for letting something like that slip, he was searching for a way to cover up his mistake, but eventually gave up and settled for something that was far simpler and closer to the truth. "It's a long story... I don't feel like going into it right now..."  
  
Guy thought about his answer, shrugged his shoulders and simply accepted it for what it was, "Okay."  
  
Suddenly Pan started to tremble in her sleep and her eyes were darting back and forth, she was having a nightmare.  
  
"Pan, Pan wake up." he said shaking shoulders her gently.  
  
As she slowly opened her eyes, Pan started to remember where she was and realized that she was leaning against something. Gradually sitting up, she looked to see what it was that she was leaning on and was startled to see that it was Trunks.  
  
Jumping back slightly, "Gomen, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you Trunks."  
  
"That's okay, I didn't mind... I... I mean... I fell asleep to, so... Hehehe..." Trunks said nervously, stuttering a bit. There was a slight ease of tension in the air as the two looked at each other. Rubbing the back of his neck, Trunks's cheeks began to blush as Pan's did the same.  
  
Forgetting that Guy was even in the room, they were both startled as he decided to speak up, "So how is Kyushinhan doing?"  
  
"Huh? Oh... Um..." Trunks got up quickly and looked at the readouts on the regeneration tank, "It looks like he's been in here for about three hours, and is 78% healed."  
  
"That's good." Said Pan, feeling the need to focus on Kyushinhan's recovery rather than on the awkward situation she was just in.  
  
Just then there was a loud scream from the entryway, the occupants of the room all jumped to see who it was, only to be tackled by a horde of very scared mothers.  
  
"Oh Pan-chan!! You're okay!!" shouted Chi-Chi as she squeezed her grand daughter in a great big bear hug that nearly forced all of the air out of her lungs.  
  
"Hi Grandma..." Pan wheezed  
  
"Oh Pan-chan, Gomen nasai. Are you injured?"  
  
"No, I'm okay Grandma."  
  
"Good, I'm so glad to see you're all right."  
  
Trunks was having a similar moment of total embarrassment of his own; Bulma had nearly knocked him over when he ran to him and threw her arms around his neck.  
  
"Okaa-san, I'm fine. I wasn't hurt." He said  
  
"I know, I know. I'm just so happy to see you."  
  
Lunch walked slowly to the regeneration tank was that held her son, as she gazed through the glass tears welled up in her eyes and her hands were shaking as she reached up and touched it.  
  
"Lunch-san," said Pan walking over to her side with Chi-Chi, "Kyushinhan is going to be okay. He'll just be in there for another hour or so and then he'll be fine; just like he was before."  
  
"I believe you Pan-chan, it's just that..." her voice trailed off, "I thought I would never see him again..." and she began to cry. Pan put her arms around her and held her tight, consoling her.  
  
"Guy..." Bulma's voice trembled as she made her around to the other side of the sofa. "Guy are you... All right?"  
  
"I'll be fine Bulma-san, there's no need to console me." He stated rather coldly  
  
"But Mikal..." her voice wavering  
  
"I can't change the past Bulma-san, I just have to deal with the future now. Mikal is gone and there's nothing I can do about it." He said flatly  
  
"That's so cold." Snapped Bulma  
  
"That's reality." The room was silent for several seconds until there was a knock at the entrance.  
  
"Um... Is it okay for us to come in now?" asked the Ox King  
  
"Of course it is Otou-san." Replied Chi-Chi  
  
[Us?] Wondered Trunks, "What do you mean by 'us'?" he asked, just then Master Roshi, Oolong and Puar appeared behind him. Trunks eyes lit up and ran over to them like he was five years old and them all big hugs. "I'm glad to see all of you again."  
  
"Again? Well you must have a really good memory to remember us after all these years as infant Trunks." Stated Master Roshi  
  
Realizing his humiliating blunder, a big sweat drop appeared on the side of his brow, blushing at his mistake in judgment and scratching the back of his neck he released his old friends and back away. "Well, I... Uh, well yeah... I guess, Hahaha!" Trunks babbled, turning around he could see the faces of everyone one in the room upon him with bewildered faces. Feeling as if he was only three feet tall, he decided it was best if he sat down and made an attempt to keep from embarrassing himself any further.  
  
Bulma, knowing the truth behind her son's reaction decided to stay quiet and introduced her old friends to Pan and Guy. "Pan-chan this is Kamesennin Muten Roshi, Puar and Oolong."  
  
"Konichiwa, it's a pleasure to meet all of you." Pan said, respectfully bowing to them.  
  
"You can call me Master Roshi for short, I never really like long titles anyway, Hehehe!!" he said while making his way over in Pan's direction.  
  
She felt uneasy as he made is way over to her and wondered at what exactly he was looking at. "What is it?" she asked  
  
"Well, you're quite a cutey aren't you? So tell me, you into older men at all? Hahaha!"  
  
With the others in the room moaning at his lewdness and hiding their faces in their hands, Pan yelled, "PERVERT!!!" and slapped him across the room colliding with the opposite wall between two, now empty, regeneration tanks.  
  
Puar floated over to Pan and immediately apologized, "I'm so sorry for his behavior, he should act much more appropriate for his age but he just doesn't seem to want to change. Please accept my apologies on his behalf."  
  
"Thank you but you don't have to apologize for him, um, Puar is it?"  
  
"Hai." Puar answered happily  
  
"And the pig is Oolong right."  
  
"Yup, but I don't really like being called a pig though." Said Oolong  
  
"But isn't that what you are?"  
  
"Well..." his ears flopping down slightly, "Yeah."  
  
Over the next hour, the gang made themselves comfortable in the regeneration room while a nurse attending to Master Roshi's head trauma, and immediately smacked him across his face after he attempted to grab a cheap feel, leaving a fresh red hand print on the other side a fading hand print made by Pan. Keeping herself close to Trunks and away from the old pervert, Bulma and Chi-Chi noticed how close they were getting and smiled to each other. After the tank indicated 100% regeneration, a group of doctors and technicians made their way in and typed in some commands on the controls. As the liquids from the tank was flushed away, Kyushinhan's eyes began to open and he could see everyone on the opposite side of the domed glass waiting for him.  
  
As the hatch to the tack opened, Kyushinhan pulled the breathing mask off his face and slowly stood to his feet. The doctors gave him a long, white robe to put on and a towel to dry his hair, they took some final readings to make sure he wasn't light headed or anything and announced that he was healthy enough to go home if he wished.  
  
"Hai, I am." He said simply  
  
"Good, then we'll go home right now." Said Lunch latching herself to her son  
  
Everyone was smiling and glad to see that he had fully recovered, even Guy managed to pat him on his shoulders and gave a small smile.  
  
"Um, can I have a word with Trunks for moment please everyone?" Kyushinhan asked the room of people  
  
"Oh, of course you can son." His mother replied and the group stepped out of the regeneration room, allowing them some privacy to talk.  
  
"What is it Kyushinhan?" asked Trunks  
  
Turning to see his friend, his hair still damp, "Trunks, I need to ask you something..."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"The Jinzouningen... When I fought him, he was asking about you."  
  
"Me?!" Trunks blinked and his eyes widened just a bit  
  
"Hai... So I need to ask you, did you know they were coming?"  
  
"No, no I didn't know anything. I swear!" Trunks replied nervous at where this conversation was going  
  
Kyushinhan looked at him in the eyes for a long silent moment, nothing between the two as Kyushinhan finally made a decision and sighed. "I believe you Trunks... But that thing kept asking about you. He wanted to know where you were and stuff. I think he was programmed to find you, specifically."  
  
"Then why did it go after West Island City?" Trunks asked as this new information swirled in his mind  
  
"I don't know, probably to lure you out somehow. He knew that you would come to protect those people as soon as you heard the news. That thing was different from the last Jinzouningen, he didn't just go on some wild killing spree just for the fun of it; he had a purpose."  
  
"I see..." Trunks eyes drifted downwards to the floor  
  
"I knew you'd kill it though, I mean after all you did kill the last two. But when I saw Pan, Guy and Mikal..." his voice trailed off as he came to a realization, "Wait a minute, where was Mikal, he wasn't in the room earlier?"  
  
"I was too late... He was already dead when I got there.  
  
"Oh..." There was another long silence between the two friends as Kyushinhan contemplated Mikal's death. "When is the funeral?"  
  
"I don't know yet, I'm going to discuss that with Okaa-san tonight."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Kyushinhan..." said Trunks  
  
"Hai?"  
  
"I think there's more coming... But I can't be sure when."  
  
Kyushinhan's eyes narrowed, "Are you sure?"  
  
"Hai, it's what that Jinzouningen said to me before I knocked it's head off. It said that the main super computer that controls it was analyzing our moves and that it will send others."  
  
"That's not good." Kyushinhan hissed as his fists clenched  
  
"I know. I hid the remains of the Jinzouningen's body in the woods a short distance away from the battle field; maybe I can have Okaa-san take a look at it and she can give us some more information about them."  
  
"That's a good idea."  
  
"I'll get it later tonight and..." his voice wavered "After Mikal's funeral, I'm going to take Pan and Guy to somewhere special to train. I would like it if you would come along."  
  
Kyushinhan looked at his friend and smiled, "Of course I would, then maybe we can finish our little rematch." He joked trying to lighten the mood  
  
Trunks laughed at the joke slightly and smirked, "Yeah."  
  
"So what's the name of this place you're going to be taking us to?" Kyushinhan asked  
  
"It's called Kami's Lookout." 


	21. Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY  
  
The funeral service was held two days later at the Brief's family private burial plot, which was located on high plateau looking over New Capitol City. There were many people buried here, friends and family. Dr. Trunks Briefs, Mrs. Bra Briefs, Son Goku, Kullilin, Yamucha, Tienshinhan, Chao- Tsu, Piccolo, Yajirobe, Vegeta, Son Gohan, and now one more was being added to the burial grounds, Mikal. The priest gave a spiritually uplifting sermon, but none in attendance felt very spiritual or uplifted by it. The morning sun shone across the vast horizon and the sky shimmered in brilliant colors of orange, yellow and pink as it rose gently into the sky. The women were crying and the men remained silent and solemn, and everyone was dressed in black.  
  
As the priest gave the final verse of his sermon, the grouped mourned for the loss of their young friend and eventually over time made their way back to the Capsule Corp House. Loosening his tie as he walked in, Trunks collapsed on the couch in the living room, staring at the ceiling. Most of the group was still making their ways in the house, one by one they all made their way to the living room and took the open spots on the couches and sofas. Chi-Chi, Lunch and Pan, still tear stricken sat on the medium sized sofa next to the bay window talking to each other. Ox King, Master Roshi, Puar and Oolong sat on the other sofa on the opposite end of the room across from the three women, while Guy and Kyushinhan took the open spots on the couch Trunks was sitting in.  
  
"So Kyushinhan," Guy spoke up, "What's it like to be famous and all."  
  
"Hmph," he smirked. "Everyone thinks that I was the one that got rid of the Jinzouningen. It's really pissing me off, everyday there are reporters at the house trying to ask all of these questions about how I felt, how was I able to fight back, how I can fly and stuff. I should just tell the truth and say you did it Trunks and get them off my back." Kyushinhan said turning his attention to Trunks  
  
"Hmm, I wonder if they would believe you?" he asked  
  
"I don't see why not. Hmph, they'll probably just end up hounding us both now that I think about it."  
  
"Well, you might as well get used to it now, you're a celebrity." Trunks grinned  
  
"I really hate the media..." Kyushinhan scowled, "I'm going to have to move away to a very remote location somewhere so I can have some peace and quiet."  
  
Turning on the TV to ZTV News, there it was. The story of the century, The Return of the Jinzouningen and its defeat; there were clips playing from the remote robots that captured the first fright of Kyushinhan in West Island City, and then some more from his battle outside the Ruins of East Island City. The reporters were going on and on about what the police and the military could have done better to prevent this from happening and so on.  
  
"Oh Geez... See what I mean!" Kyushinhan shouted, "What about the 11,000 plus people who died because of that thing. You don't see them mentioning their names on the news."  
  
"Yeah really..." Guy said dryly  
  
Trunks turned his head to see his mother go down into the basement and decided to follow her. Getting up from his spot on the couch, Pan noticed him going downstairs but said nothing. As he made his way into the basement laboratory, the pieces of Nijunigou were strewn about the large lab table. His large and broken torso, his two arms, and his dead, lifeless head; there were wires and connections to every piece of them hooked into the main computer in the basement. Trunks had flown back to the site where he buried the pieces the night they came back home from the hospital and showed them to his mother. Bulma had been working on them ever since.  
  
"Did you get anything from its memory yet?" he asked  
  
"Some, most of it was either destroyed or encrypted. I'm still trying to decrypt the rest of it now. But from what I do have, it doesn't look good Trunks." Bulma said somberly  
  
"What have you found out?" he asked while taking off his suit jacket and tossing it aside  
  
"Well, for one thing, you were right when it told you that there were others. From what I've collected from it databanks, there seems to be at least four more somewhere. But I don't know where they are, that part of its memory was destroyed."  
  
Trunks sighed and apologized for his lack of thinking in killing the Jinzouningen.  
  
"There's no need to apologize Trunks. You did what you had to do, what needed to be done. If you hadn't, everyone could've been killed." Bulma said trying to reassure her son  
  
"Thank you Okaa-san."  
  
Bulma smiled as she returned her attention to the flickering images on her computer screen trying to decipher what she was seeing. "There also seems to be some sort of countdown or time schedule."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Well, if I'm not mistaken, and I'm usually not, it looks as if this is the release date of the other Jinzouningen Units." She said  
  
"Release date? Can you tell when?" asked Trunks moving his head closer to the screen  
  
"Well, give me a few more seconds to clean this up...Hmmm, it looks like six months from now, give or take a few days... Oh Kami, Trunks, there's going to be four more Jinzouningen let loose on the Earth in six months! What are we going to do?" she said with great concern.  
  
Trunks was silent, staring at the mathematical figures on the computer monitor and then suddenly turned and was making his way up the stairs.  
  
"Trunks?" Bulma called out to him  
  
"Okaa-san, we're going to be gone for a while, see what else you can find out about the Jinzouningen and let me know as soon as you can." Trunks stated as he reached the top of the stairs and exited the basement.  
  
"We? Wait Trunks where are you going?!" she shouted and ran after him. By the time she left the basement lab and into the living room, Trunks was already in mid sentence telling everyone what he intended to do...  
  
"...Does everyone understand? The Jinzouningen are coming back in approximately six months, and we have to prepare for it. So I suggest that the three of you pack what you need and get ready to leave." He stated quite frankly  
  
"Trunks, where are we going?" asked Pan  
  
"We're going to Kami's Lookout. There's no need to worry, with the exception of you three, everyone else knows where it is." He said  
  
"So when do we leave?" Kyushinhan asked  
  
"This afternoon."  
  
"Good." Said Guy and promptly stood up from the couch and proceeded up the stairs to collect his things.  
  
"All I need is my training gear and I'm set." Said Kyushinhan  
  
"Kyushinhan are you really going?" asked Lunch  
  
"Hai, we have no choice Okaa-san. You heard Trunks, they'll be here in six months, we have to be ready for them."  
  
"I guess I should go pack too." Said Pan hesitantly  
  
"Oh no you're not Pan-chan!" stated Chi-Chi firmly  
  
"But Grandma, we have to. What will happen to us if the Jinzouningen come for us and we're not ready to fight them?"  
  
"I don't care about them I care about you! And I don't want to lose anymore family to those murdering bastards ever again!" Chi-Chi shouted, her voice quivering.  
  
"Grandma, it'll be okay... It won't be like last time, I won't be alone like Papa was. Trunks and Kyushinhan will be there, even Guy. I'll be all right." Pan said in a soft and soothing voice trying to calm her grand mother down.  
  
"But Gohan was a Super Saiya-jin and you're not, what if you get killed." Chi-Chi's were watering at this point  
  
"I won't... I promise." Pan said, leaning in and giving her grand mother a loving hug while Chi-Chi cried on her shoulders.  
  
"Trunks..." said Bulma as she made her way next to her son, "Here I want you to take this." And she handed him her cell phone. "Just incase I find some thing else about the Jinzouningen, I'll contact and let you know."  
  
"Arigato Okaa-san." Trunks gave his mother a small hug and kissed her on the cheek  
  
"Okaa-san," said Kyushinhan, "You should stay here for now, I'll be back in a couple of hours when I get my things packed."  
  
"Okay Kyushinhan, you just come back quickly okay."  
  
"Hai I promise." Walking out the front door, he took to the air and headed home.  
  
Later that afternoon, Guy, Pan, and Kyushinhan were in the backyard of Capsule Corp waiting for Trunks and Bulma to appear. Along with Chi-Chi, Lunch, Ox King, Master Roshi, Puar and Oolong. As the two exited the house and joined the other everyone was giving their last goodbyes before they left to Kami's Lookout. They went around shaking each other hands and giving each other hugs, Pan was about to call it quits when she came to Master Roshi who had the biggest grin on his face. Scowling at him, she refused to hug him or even shake his hand.  
  
"Oh come on Pan-chan, you're not going to hold that against me you whole life are you? It was only a joke, after I am an old man and I probably don't have that longer to live anyway." Master Roshi said trying to sound all innocent.  
  
She felt guilty all of a sudden, [Maybe he's right. I mean he hasn't made a pass at me since then. I guess he was just joking; he is old after all. I still don't trust him though.] "Well okay I guess..." she relented. As she leaned in and gave Master Roshi a small hug, she suddenly felt his hand go down her back and pinched her butt. "AHHHHH!!! YOU FILTHY LITTLE PERVERT!!!" And nailed him with an uppercut that sent him flying up in the air and came crashing down on top of Capsule Corp with loud 'Thunk!' As Master Roshi rolled off the domed roof of Capsule Corp, all the women hissed at him for being a pervert, and all the men shook their heads and looked away, ashamed for all men everywhere.  
  
After Master Roshi's body fell to the ground in a most embarrassing and painful looking manner, the four friends threw their small duffel bags over shoulders, which were packed with various pairs of clothing, and waved goodbye to their families. Taking to the air Trunks took the lead and headed west to the Ruins of Karrin Tower. Flying with a sense of urgency, Trunks wanted to make every minute count for something. The longer they took to get to their destination, the more time was wasted from their training in preparation for the Jinzouningen's eventual arrival. As they reached a clearing in a large forested expanse, they could clearly see the debris and rubble from what was once a very tall building.  
  
"Trunks, what is that down there?" asked Pan  
  
"That was once Karrin Tower, a mystical that reached from the earth below to the heaven's above right beneath Kami's Lookout. Gohan and I used to come here often to get supplies during the early days before it was destroyed." Trunks answered, and then suddenly banked upwards.  
  
"Where are we going?" she asked  
  
"Kami's Lookout, it's hovering far above in the sky, over looking the entire Earth."  
  
"You mean it's in orbit?"  
  
"Not quite, but close enough, don't worry though, you won't notice any difference in gravity or air pressure." He smiled looking down into her face, gazing into those big beautiful eyes of hers. Feeling a little embarrassed at the attention she was receiving, she smiled back at him and Trunks blushed a light pink in his cheeks and looked towards the sky again, concentrating on finding the Lookout. Both Kyushinhan and Guy noticed the strange looks Trunks and Pan gave each other, and contained their laughter.  
  
"Look there it is." Said Trunks  
  
As they approached the Lookout, Trunks slowed his pace and allowed his friends to get a good view of the lookout from above.  
  
"Is this it?" asked Guy  
  
"Hai."  
  
"It's not exactly what I expected it to be."  
  
"And what were you expecting?" asked Trunks  
  
"Well, honestly I'm really sure... Something different I guess." Guy replied, scratching his head. Soaking in the view before them, Kami's Lookout was incredibly clean; with large white tiles, rows of beautiful looking trees outlining about half of the perimeter of the lookout, and there was a single building at the center of the lookout that resembled something similar of a Arabian palace with columns and pillars in the front.  
  
"Well no need to keep them waiting, we might as well land."  
  
"Waiting? Keep who waiting?" Kyushinhan blinked  
  
Landing on the surface of the lookout, Trunks dropped his duffel bag and started making his way towards the palace, but stopped after only about three or four steps.  
  
Trunks cupped his hands together in front of his mouth and shouted. "Popo- san!! Karrin-sama!! We're here!!"  
  
After several moments, Pan, Guy and Kyushinhan stared as two strange looking creatures walked out of the palace. One of them looked like a person, almost, except he was completely dark brown, almost black, with two big eyes, no nose and fat puffy lips. He wore Arabian style clothing, including a turban on top of his head. While the other creature looked as if to be a normal house cat, except he was walking upright on two legs instead of four, and he carried a short and weird looking walking stick.  
  
"Trunks my boy, it's good to see you again after all these years." Stated the cat, which caused some gasps from the group of newbies that arrived with Trunks. His voice sounded old and wise.  
  
"It's good to see you again too Karrin-sama. It has been a long time." Trunks smiled while walking over to Karrin-sama and Popo-san.  
  
"Trunks, how have you been? You must tell us, we've been wondering what you've doing since we last met." Popo-san stated with vigor  
  
"Hai, I will, but first I must introduce my friends behind me." Said Trunks and motioned for them to walk over, and was a bit embarrassed when the three of them gave deep bows to Popo-san and Karrin-sama.  
  
"You don't have to do that." Trunks started to say, but was interrupted.  
  
"Oh I don't know; I kind of missed the proper respect, given to one suck as myself deserves." Karrin-sama stated  
  
Trunks laughed a bit at his statement but never-the-less continued with the introductions, "Popo-san, Karrin-sama, I would like you to meet Pan, Guy and Kyushinhan." Said Trunks while pointing out each of his friends. "Pan is Gohan's daughter."  
  
The eyes of the two demi-gods, so to speak, widen greatly as Trunks stated who she was related to.  
  
"Gohan's daughter, I am deeply honored to meet you Son Pan." Said Popo-san  
  
"I as well." Stated Karrin-sama and the two bowed in respect  
  
"Oh, Aritgato..." she stuttered and bowed in return, "Did you know my father?"  
  
"Hai we did, he was one of the bravest men we have ever had the honor to meet. He single handily fought the Jinzouningen for years before his unfortunate death by their hands. We miss him greatly." Said Popo-san  
  
"Yes, when he started to train Trunks to fight, the two of us had such sigh hopes that the long nightmare would soon end. But when he died, I must admit, my hope was lost... However, Trunks proved to be even more powerful than Gohan and defeated those murdering robots forever, and for that I am thankful." Karrin-sama said and bowed to Trunks in thanks  
  
"Arigato Karrin-sama." Trunks blushed, "Uh, Popo-san, Karrin-sama, Kyushinhan here," he said while patting his friend's shoulder, "he is Tienshinhan's son."  
  
"Ah yes, I thought I saw a recognized you from somewhere. The resemblance is remarkable." Popo-san remarked as he walked closer to Kyushinhan  
  
"You knew my father as well?" Kyushinhan asked, taking a step back as Popo- san got closer, somewhat shocked  
  
"Hai, very well we did. Your father Kyushinhan was perhaps the strongest human who had ever lived. He too was brave, but he too fell in battle during the early days of terror." Said Karrin-sama  
  
"He did much in his early days before then, it is quite possible, that the human could've been enslaved or even killed off long before the Jinzouningen arrived if he wasn't there for us." Popo-san smiled  
  
"Arigato, you honor me by my the tales of my father heroism."  
  
"And who are you related to young one?" Karrin-sama asked  
  
"Uh..." Guy shook his head and shrugged, a couple of droplets of sweat appeared on his forehead, he was obviously nervous. "No one really, I'm just me... Hehe..." he chuckled  
  
"I see, well that doesn't make you any less important in our eyes. If Trunks has brought you along with him, then he must think a great deal about you to entrust you with the knowledge of our existence here on Kami's lookout." Karrin-sama smiled  
  
"Are you Kami?" Guy gulped  
  
"No... I'm not." Karrin-sama and Popo-san both lowered their heads. "There has been no Kami upon the lookout since he was killed; and a new cannot be appointed as the guardian of the Earth unless the prior Kami makes it so... However, since Kami did not have the chance to do just that, the Earth has been without one since that time." Karrin-sama explained  
  
"I see..." Kyushinhan spoke up solemnly.  
  
"So Trunks, what brings you here again?" Popo-san asked  
  
"Popo-san, Karrin-sama, I ask for your permission for the four to remain here for the time being in order to undergo training upon the Lookout. We have learned of the impending arrival of some new Jinzouningen units sometime within the next six months. And I wanted to train my friends here instead of on the Earth below." Trunks asked graciously  
  
"More? How's that possible?" Popo-san inquired shockingly  
  
"I don't know, but Okaa-san is examining the remains of one that I defeated earlier. Hopefully she will be able to learn more and inform us." He explained  
  
"Of course my boy, of course. We will give you anything you need to complete your training. Come, brings your bags and we'll provide you some rooms to stay in." Karrin-sama said and led the way inside the palace. [Hmm, this is not good... More of those damn creatures are coming out... I hope that Trunks will be able to train his young charges in time, the next six months are going to be difficult for them.] He thought to himself. 


End file.
